The Dimensional Witch
by Rock Drake the Destroyer
Summary: After a year of dementors, rats, cats, hippogryphs and Sirius Black, Harry Potter is placed with his last remaining magical relative. The catch? The relative is a teenager living in Tokyo, Japan with a woman named Yuuko Ichihara. Now Harry and his new family are about to enter a much larger universe when Chromatic and Metallic Dragons arrive. Don't like, don't read. Please review.
1. Chapter 1: Inevitable

**AN: I don't own anything. The XxxHOLIC characters are from the anime. Dragons are from Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition.  
**

The Dimensional Witch

A Harry Potter and XxxHOLIC crossover

Chapter 1

Inevitable

"Watanuki, I need more sake!" A woman's voice called out through a strange shop in a Tokyo alley.

A young man's voice called back from the kitchen, "Yuuko, I'm very glad that you came back from the dead and all, but I worry that with all the sake that you drink that you're going to end up dead again. Please try to moderate how much you drink!"

"More sake," came a rasping, loud voice.

"Ahrgg! Mokona, let me finish with the food first! It'll be done in less than two minutes and I spent a long time learning this to surprise Yuuko!"

"Alright Watanuki, if it's that close to being done then just bring the sake with the rest," the woman's voice called. Not two minutes later, footsteps were heard on the wood floor of the house/shop and a wood and paper door slid open to a room that was floored with tatami mats and a low table in the center.

The person who entered was a tall young man, dressed in a black school uniform with an apron over it, with black hair, black glasses and one gold eye and one blue eye. This was Kimihiro Watanuki.

He was carrying a tray filled with food. Stew, sushi, vegetables and a very fancy dish of fish as well as a very large bottle of sake with a pill bottle of aspirin next to it.

Sitting in seiza at the low table was a tall, slender, pale skinned young woman appearing to be in her twenties with long black hair that when she stood up went down to the back of her knees with the front in a hime-style cut. Her irises were wine-red and she was dressed in a deep blue kimono with white clouds on the bottom and yellow trim as well as a light blue obi around her middle and golden accessories in her hair and around her neck.

As was traditional in Japan, she only had a pair of white socks on her feet. A black rabbit thing sat on the table next to her.

Watanuki spoke, "Here, all done. Try and remember to take that aspirin after dinner and drink plenty of water too. You don't need to get a hangover this soon after coming back, Yuuko."

The now identified Yuuko Ichihara simply glanced at the young man as he set the food down to get his own dinner, having learned that if he didn't make something simple, Yuuko and Mokona would eat it all.

Yuuko took a bite of fish and blushed with pleasure.

"Watanuki, this is excellent! Now I think that you've been holding out on me."

Watanuki reappeared with a pot of stew, knowing full well that both Yuuko and Mokona would eat everything if they could so he made sure to make their main course extra-large so that they wouldn't. He gestured towards the fish that Yuuko was eating, "That took several months to learn, Yuuko. Of course, it probably would have taken less time to learn if a certain furball hadn't kept trying to eat everything as I was working."

He quickly got himself a bowl of stew and lifted it away, seeing Mokona finishing up and edging closer to the pot.

Mokona sniffed deeply, then stopped and groaned, falling on his back saying, "I think I ate too much. You win the bet Watanuki."

The young man grinned as the Dimensional Witch looked at him curiously.

"Watanuki," she said ominously, causing him to shudder in fear, "What bet did you make?"

The heterochromic eyed boy answered her nervously as he filled up his bowl for seconds, "Actually, Yuuko, Mokona made the initial bet. Maru and Moro can back me up on this when they wake up from their nap. They were present when it was made."

Yuuko's eyebrow twitched and her red eyes bored into Watanuki.

He quickly continued, "Several months back I had made a remark to Mokona one day as he was stuffing himself as usual telling him that he was going to give himself a stomachache one day with how much he was eating. He of course denied that was possible so I pointed out how much he ate and told him that it was inevitable."

Yuuko's mouth twitched in amusement as he went on, "Mokona then bet that if he ever ate too much to the point of illness, he would from then on eat smaller portions, drink less, and never annoy me again. If He won then I would have to cook whatever he wanted in the amounts that he wanted for the next year. Domeki wrote the bet up and we signed it with Maru and Moro as witnesses. He now has to abide by the terms of our bet and he knows it."

"So, you won the bet Watanuki," a deep masculine voice was heard from the doorway.

Domeki stepped in, "Yuuko, good to see you're back," he nodded in greeting to the Witch.

"Domeki," she said in greeting as he turned to look at Mokona.

Maru and Moro came rushing in as they had heard Domeki mention the bet.

He quirked an eyebrow at the groaning creature, "Girls, you might want to take him the bathroom. He looks like he's going to be sick."

Maru and Moro rushed Mokona away as Yuuko burst out in laughter, "My goodness. All these years and I've never seen Mokona like that!"

Sounds of heaving could be heard and Domeki took from Watanuki the offered bowl and spoon and got some of the oden.

Watanuki was grinning as Yuuko continued to laugh, happy that he had finally gotten one over the little rodent.

Domeki turned to his now friend and asked, "Is this normal for her," he said, referring to the laughing Yuuko.

Watanuki inclined his head, "Well, it can depend, but the last time she laughed like this was when I first met her and she said I looked like a drunken crab after she mentioned something about souls."

Both boys grinned knowing full well that Watanuki probably had deserved that comment from Yuuko. They cleared away the dishes as Yuuko poured herself some more sake.

Domeki was heard from the kitchen saying, "Hey, Watanuki, something's happened to this sake."

"Huh, what's up?"

"Smell it."

"There's no smell of alcohol, wait let me pour some. Hey, it's just water now."

"That's strange."

"Better tell Yuuko then."

Watanuki reentered the room. He spoke, "Yuuko, something happened with the bottle of sake in the kitchen, it-, Yuuko?"

Yuuko had set her sake down and gained her demeanor that there was a customer.

"Maru, Moro we have a customer. Please bring them in."

The twins rushed off and Yuuko took a sip of her sake and then spat it out, and looked at the bottle and then at Watanuki.

"I was going to tell you, the sake in the kitchen just turned to water, Yuuko. I'm at a loss."

"Watanuki," Domeki said entering the room, "All of the alcohol in the kitchen has turned to water."

Yuuko straightened up as her customer neared, her long hair flowing about her. Maru and Moro reappeared, "Mistress, the customers are here," they chorused.

Then, in the doorway, two young boys appeared. The one in front seemed to be around fifteen, with silver eyes and black hair and was rather tall and fit for his age and possessed a presence of hidden wisdom of ages past. He was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt with a strange amulet around his neck and surveyed the room with a calmness that was unique among any of Yuuko's customers.

The boy behind him was the odd one. Thirteen years old, skinny, small, with messy black hair and bright green eyes hidden behind black glasses, wearing baggy clothes with a strange black robe over it, this was only the beginning of the oddness. Next to him was a trunk (which wasn't too odd) and a birdcage with a Snowy Owl inside fast asleep. The owl was the odd thing.

The first boy's gaze landed on Yuuko and their eyes met. The Witch's red eyes widened and she stood up slowly as the boy rushed at her with a cry of "Yuuko!"

He embraced her tightly, his sobs muffled in her kimono as surprisingly to Watanuki, who never saw Yuuko display such motherly tenderness to anyone, she whispered softly, "Doreiku," and hugged the boy closely, her eyes closed.

After a few minutes, they separated and Yuuko held the boy by the shoulders looking him dead in the eye.

"They said you were dead," Doreiku whispered, his eyes still full of tears.

"I was, for a time," Yuuko replied, "But no longer. Now," she took a handkerchief and wiped his eyes, "Dry those tears."

The Witch glanced over at the other young boy in the room, "And who is your friend?" she asked.

"Harry Potter, ma'am," the boy replied quietly.

Watanuki winced, knowing that this was likely to set Yuuko off on her never tell someone your name spiel.

Doreiku luckily interjected before Yuuko could say anything, "He's British, Yuuko, as well as a young wizard who hasn't had the best lot in life so don't pull the never tell your name thing. He won't understand."

This stopped the Witch as she looked longer at the green-eyed boy. There was fear in his posture. Yuuko beckoned Harry in saying, "Watanuki, can you… Ah, good you brought his things in."

She turned to the boys as she sat down. "Please, sit," she gestured to the mats. They sat. "Now explain." The two teens shared a look, and the younger one sighed. "Alright," he said after a while.

He began, "I was born fourteen years ago on July 31st, 1980 to a British wizard and witch, James Potter and his wife Lily. Both are now deceased However, that is not where my story begins. Four years ago, I found out that I was a wizard. On September 1st, 1991, I started my first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in Scotland…."

Over the next several hours Harry told his tale, while the other gathered members sat and listened.

After two hours, Domeki left because he had to get home.

Harry didn't notice and just continued on into his second and third years. Yuuko's eyes widened when he spoke of the Basilisk and how he got bitten, and stiffened greatly, her brick red eyes narrowing at the mention of the Dementors.

After five hours, Harry stopped, his throat raw. Watanuki handed him a glass of water, which he quickly downed.

"Thanks," Harry muttered, and then tried to hold back a yawn.

"Bed," The Dimensional Witch said, "Watanuki?"

"I'll take him. Where do you want him, Yuuko?"

Doreiku spoke quietly, "Put him in my room for now. It's right next to Yuuko's." Though his voice was level, there was an unmistakable undercurrent of anger in it.

Harry stood up and let his owl out of her cage. The bird flew up to his shoulder and he followed Watanuki out of the room.

Yuuko stood and walked outside to the veranda where she sat and gazed at the setting sun. Doreiku followed her, though he wasn't so relaxed. His anger weighed heavily on the air and after a time he cursed rapidly.

"Doreiku," the witch said sharply, and he stopped. "Why did you bring him here?" Yuuko asked in her usual tone.

The teen sighed, "I am his only magical relative left alive, Yuuko. Distantly related but close enough for it to count. However, I am not of age yet, so you being _my_ guardian…," he smirked as Yuuko laughed softly, "I had no choice. As you would say it was inevitable."

She turned to the teen that she raised as if he was her own son, "There is something else isn't there, hmm?"

"Yes, Yuuko. He is in dire need of a guide and a proper teacher as well as a parental figure. His relatives were bad, to say the least."

Yuuko gazed upon the teen and he met her eyes as she reminded him, "Good and bad are human concepts."

The silver eyes narrowed, "Yuuko, they _are_ human."

He paused and took a deep breath, "They abused him."

Yuuko gasped as Watanuki came outside to join them. The young man was surprised as he hadn't really seen Yuuko lose her cool all that often.

The Witch then hissed out, "He will never go back there again! This I swear!" A powerful aura of magic grew around her as her eyes gained more than a hint of the great power that she could wield.

The two males shared a looked and grinned. Yuuko was a sucker for children, especially those who needed help.

"So," Doreiku said, "He'll be staying then?" "Of course," Yuuko replied sharply.

Doreiku grinned at her, "So, tell me what has happened in the eighteen months I've been away with my tutors."

Watanuki groaned, he knew where this was going.

Yuuko laughed and the three began to talk as the night went on. Watanuki's trials with the supernatural as well as dealing with Yuuko's usual mysteriousness as well as alcoholism.

When the Monkey's Paw was mentioned, Doreiku whistled lowly. "That needs to be destroyed as soon as possible," he remarked, "Even sealed it's mere existence is dangerous."

"No arguments from me," Watanuki replied.

Yuuko hmmed. "Even so," she softly said, in her almost musical voice, her eyes partially lidded, "The price of destroying it magically is too much for any of us to pay."

Watanuki groaned. That thing was no good and he avoided it when cleaning if he could.

Doreiku scoffed. "It's not that hard," he said scornfully, "Just throw it into an iron furnace. That'll take care of the problem. Iron usually does. Counteracts just about every curse except the European Unforgivables."

The other two looked at him in surprise. The solution made perfect sense and was surprisingly elegant in its simplicity. The silver eyed teen withdrew something from his pocket, pressed a button, and tossed it out into the yard.

When it landed there was a flash, and then a wave of intensive heat. In front of them was a large furnace and inside it, just visible was a mass of molten iron almost white hot.

"Is that…?" Watanuki asked.

"Yes," Doreiku replied, "An iron furnace. Don't ask how that little device works as I have no idea. It was given to me by a tutor who told me of different ways of destroying cursed artifacts."

"Here," Yuuko said. The two turned around. The Witch was standing there holding the tube that contained the Monkey's Paw. She must have slipped out while the two were talking.

Doreiku gingerly picked up the object in question as Watanuki went into a rant when Yuuko mentioned that she wanted snacks.

The young teen walked over the furnace, not bothered in the slightest by the intense heat and effortlessly flicked the Monkey's Paw into the iron. He backed away quickly. Just then a bright blue-white flame burst out from where the Monkey's Paw had been thrown in as the smell of brimstone and sulfur filled the air. Then it vanished.

The air seemed clearer and the ominous presence of the Monkey's Paw was no more.

"It is done," Doreiku intoned. It felt like he was finishing a ritual. He tapped a part of the furnace and a shield sprung up as it folded itself away into the small object that he had thrown into the yard.

When it was done, he picked it up and moved back onto the veranda. The other two had gone inside, Watanuki to cook and Yuuko to check up on Harry.

Doreiku sat there on the veranda staring up at the night sky. Just then a flash of light streaked across the night sky and then another not long after. He then smiled. "Understood. I'll tell her when it is time."

Then the first star came out. Doreiku saw this and began reciting softly, "Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight," as Yuuko returned to the veranda, she stood there, listening quietly as Doreiku went through the most innocent and pure forms of wishing that every child around the world knows.

The witch smiled softly to herself and as Watanuki approached, held up a long, slender finger to her lips.

He looked outside as Doreiku started singing softly some childhood lullaby that he must have heard long ago. It was strange, in a language that Watanuki didn't understand, a haunting melody with lilting tunes that gently rose and fell.

When he finished, Yuuko stepped softly out onto the veranda. The boy didn't even move. He just sat there, staring up at the night sky. The Dimensional Witch sat on the porch with her feet together on one side, her kimono spread about her.

The moon rose into the night and no one present made a sound. An owl hooted nearby as the night grew even darker. Then a flash of light, a shooting star streaked across the sky.

Doreiku heaved a sigh and leaned back. Yuuko reached forward and gently took him by the shoulders and rested his head in her lap as Watanuki sat down.

The witch looked up and smiled mysteriously. "Look at that! We certainly have a beautiful moon tonight! And tomorrow is going to be a full, isn't it?" She asked out loud to no one in particular.

Mokona hopped over, "Moon-viewing party!" the little black rabbit/puffball thing shouted.

Yuuko grinned evilly, about to ask Watanuki to do more work when he cut her off. "Yes," he drawled, "And we must invite all of our friends over, don't we Yuuko?"

She froze as he continued, "And you get to explain how you managed to come back. I dare say that a few of them will be quite upset after all the grief that happened after you vanished."

The witch growled, "Watanuki, it isn't funny."

"I think it is extremely funny, Yuuko. It will be good to see that," Watanuki replied. Doreiku rolled his eyes, stood up and left. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day, no matter what.

In the nearby alleyway, a large creature took flight. _"Time to tell the gods that Asgorath's reincarnation has been found."  
_

The next day found Watanuki running around Tokyo delivering invites to the moon-viewing party. Due to the size of this gathering, they were having it in one of the larger parks near the Wish Granting Shop. Mentally, he ticked off the names thus far.

" _That's Kohane, the Karasu Tengu who will give the invites to Zashiki-Warashi and Ame-Warashi, now all that's left is Domeki and Himawari,"_ he thought to himself. _"If I'm lucky, Himawari will be at Domeki's shrine to catch up on the latest news and discuss schoolwork. That way I can deliver both of these at the same time and get started on snacks early."_

He snorted to himself as he turned a corner, "Yeah, knowing my luck I'll have to run all over town again. Will you get _off_?!" This last was said to a rather persistent spirit that was clinging to him. The spirit in question blinked at him and just held on, causing the boy to growl, "Damn thing."

As Watanuki rounded the next turn, Domeki's shrine came into view. He could hear a girl's voice speaking happily, and the monotoned replies of Domeki.

The persistent spirit let go and floated off as he neared the shrine. With Domeki home, the shrine itself had an aura that repelled spirits. He entered the shrine, but didn't see anyone.

The seer called out, "Helloooo! Is anyone home?" Footsteps were heard coming from inside. The front door slid open and Domeki and Himawari stood there. Himawari beamed, "Watanuki, you've left the shop! I hear that Yuuko is back."

The raven nodded in affirmation and he walked up to them, pulling the invitations from his pocket. The two took them and quickly read.

"Need any help getting ready?" Himawari asked cheerfully. The brown-eyed girl was always ready to help if she could, even though her unnatural bad luck seemed to touch everything.

"Please," Watanuki begged. "I have to cook when I get back but I need Mokona, Maru and Moro distracted. We have company over so Yuuko won't be as much of a problem."

Domeki pulled on his shoes and handed Himawari hers. One she was ready, they quickly left the shrine and took off towards the shop. Watanuki could see spirits gathering but they were repelled by Domeki's aura. A Camaro drove by as they neared the shop, turning down a nearby drive and for some reason, the spirits scattered.

They entered the shop, a bit winded as they were greeted by Maru and Moro.

"The mistress is waiting for you," they said in unison, opening the front doors. The twins waited as the trio pulled off their shoes and then led them inside. Yuuko was laying upon her Throne of Laziness as Watanuki mentally called her couch, smoking her pipe, dressed in one of her revealing kimonos. The Witch opened her eyes.

"Watanuki, good you've finished. Domeki, Himawari, welcome. I take it the two of you are joining us tonight?" Watanuki vanished off to the kitchen as the other two greeted Yuuko and remarked that they were joining tonight.

The seer got started in the kitchen as he heard Domeki and Himawari pull Maru and Moro along with Mokona outside as Yuuko followed them. He heard a squeal and then rapid Japanese. He smiled to himself. Harry must be outside with his pet.

"Well, at least I have some peace to get this all done," he murmured to himself. Over the next several hours, many, many dishes were made and put into containers, bentos, and trays and the items that could be served at room temperature or warm were finished. Anything hot would be cooked there.

"And I'll probably have to do all of the cooking, again," he sighed to himself. He looked out the window, it was late in the day and the sun was setting. He finished cleaning and got changed. The others had come back in and were waiting.

"Good, we're all here," Yuuko smiled, 'Let's go." Watanuki grabbed some of the bags and Domeki and Harry carried the rest. The heterochromatic seer, as they left the fence of the shop behind asked, "Where's Doreiku?"

Yuuko replied, "He'll be meeting us there. Don't worry, he can generally handle navigation easily." The Dimensional Witch led them to the park they were meeting at.

They entered and walked around, looking for the meeting place. Suddenly a shout caught their attention.

"Hey!" They all looked around, "Over here!" On top of a clear, treeless hill, Doreiku was waving at them. This hill was on the edge of the city and a road ran behind it into a vast hilly field. There were no gates on this part of the park as very few people ever came back here.

The group of six climbed the hill, Mokona chattering at Harry the entire way. When they reached the top, waiting with Doreiku were Kohane, Ame-Warashi, and Zashiki-Warashi. The rain sprite, ever in a mood when it came to most humans, snarked, "About time you got here."

Yuuko smiled widely as the blanket was set up, Watanuki digging out the food. Doreiku had set up the portable grill and meat was already cooking on it.

The moon slowly rose and the phantom birds came out and started singing. By now, the food had been eaten and put away magically into the shop by Watanuki, who had learned this not long after Yuuko's death. As they all sat there, those old enough drinking saké and admiring the moon, the question was finally asked by Kohane.

"Yuuko," the fortuneteller asked, "How did you come back? I mean, we all heard from Watanuki that you had died."

Ame-Warashi chimed in, "That's right. You were always going on about inevitability and whatnot and yet here you are."

Yuuko sighed, her eyes half-lidded as she leaned back a bit. "I don't know how I was able to return. I shouldn't have been, even with a powerful wish, not without upsetting the balance. Even the time that was stolen from me was returned."

Everyone picked up on the Witch's concern. Was Fei Wong Reed going to return and cause havoc? Doreiku broke the silence.

"I might be able to answer that," the silver eyed boy responded cautiously. Everyone turned to look at him as he continued, "My tutors, I guess you could call them, were on a higher level of power and authority than any of us here tonight. Lesser gods you might call them. They in turn serve the Kami of this land who in their turn obey the one Great God who rules over all things."

Ame-Warashi snapped, "Get on with it, the basic heavenly power structure is easily known to anyone!"

Doreiku ignored the red-haired rain sprite, "I got a message late last night with what of the explanation I was allowed to give."

Here he looked Yuuko dead in the eye, gleaming silver into claret. "The Great God at the time of your death was weighing up all of the work you have done. When you died, he had not finished, your extended life causing it to take a year more. When he was finished, the news of my distress reached his ears and it tipped everything. That act of you taking me in all those years ago and my familial love for you added to a lifetime of good deeds allowed him to give you a gift."

He stopped, and took a drink. Everyone present was hanging onto his every word, Yuuko especially. They all wanted to know where this was going.

"Yuuko," he softly said, "Not only did he decide to return the time that was stolen from you and return you to life, he declared something that has not happened according to the Kami since the early days of man."

The Witch's eyes grew wide with wonder and her heart rate quickened as the teen spoke again.

"Yuuko, he gifted you with a most precious gift," Doreiku said, "He gave you immortality."

Complete and utter silence. No one dared to breath. They all were thinking it was some bad joke. That is until both sprites shared a glance and then Zashiki-Warashi spoke, "It is true. That is the news that nature is spreading from the Kami as we speak."

The group stared at Yuuko at this. The Witch's eyes were filling with tears and her breath was shuddering.

"Yuuko?" Watanuki asked, "Are you alright?"

She spoke softly as she turned her head to stare at the moon, "I never would have thought; that I would be worthy of such a heavenly gift." The tears began to fall as Doreiku reached into a pocket and pulled out a small platinum ring with kanji etched on it.

The teen moved next to Yuuko and ran his hand through her long hair. The Witch turned to look at him. She was about to ask something when he handed her the ring and said, "Read it, aloud."

Yuuko raised a fine eyebrow at him and nevertheless did as he asked. She looked down at the small kanji etched on the surface of the ring and said, "Though you were not the one to give me life, you became the person I truly needed. Thank you for this Mom."

Yuuko looked up from the ring at Doreiku, who would not look her in the eye. "You truly mean this? That you view me as…...," She trailed off as tears filled her eyes again and Doreiku answered, "Yes, unless you don't-?"

He was cut off as the Witch embraced him tightly.

"There is nothing else I would love more, Doreiku. My son." They parted briefly so Yuuko could put the ring on. "Of course, Mom," Doreiku smiled weakly.

Yuuko embraced the boy again and Harry handed Watanuki a camera he had been told to bring. The seer wasn't going to miss this opportunity. He snapped several good photos of this precious moment as the girls present cooed over the sweetness.

" _A child to call my own,"_ Yuuko thought, _"A family. At long last after all these years."_

* * *

Ending Notes: Alright everyone. Here's something new right before Christmas. Consider this an early present. From me to you all, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Wesołych Świąt, Joyeux Noël, Frohe Weihnachten, Vrolijk Kerstfeest, Buon Natale, Feliz Navidad, Veselé Vánoce, Mele Kalikimaka, Веселого Різдва,

Rock Drake


	2. Chapter 2 Gods

**AN: For Disclaimer, see chapter 1. Also, the XxxHOLIC movie has been placed during this.**

" _Yuuko, he gifted you with a most precious gift," Doreiku said, "He gave you immortality."_

" _A child to call my own," Yuuko thought, "A family. At long last after all these years."_

Chapter 2

Gods

While this heartwarming scene was going on, far above over the city, three very large creatures stooped into a dive. They took to the scattered cloud cover to hide themselves somewhat from any human that might be watching.

These creatures began communicating with a language that was filled with hard consonants and sibilants that sounded like hissing. One of the winged, scaled creatures, a black one, spoke to the lead.

 **"Thaenar, nomeno ui ti tokeq. Austratir svern vi munthrek taoul ui ti vi bensvelk ulhyrr."** _"Major, this is not safe. Flying over a human city is not a good idea."_

Another creature, a silver one calmly replied to the black one, **"Yth jahen gavira ekess confn. Jaci ui wer annyo nuwa'jimos di jacida ergriff nuwa'jimos vur zklaen clax jacida cekip."** The silver one switched to English, "We were ordered to come. He is the last hatchling of his only hatchling and must take his test." The Silver continued on, "The Witch has taken him in. This is the only route."

The Black Chromatic hissed at the Silver dragon, shaking his large horned head as though ridding himself of a particularly annoying fly, "Orn, this is _dangerous_! We have nearly been spotted several times now! I still don't understand why our Lady and Lords couldn't have raised the child after his parents' unfortunate demise themselves."

The lead creature, a large Blue Chromatic dragon, answered in English as their flight leveled out, "Quiet down, Mergandevinasander. I understand your concern, but this is the route that we were told to take by Lady Tiamat after Lord Null checked where the boy was going to be. And we all know the rules put into place. Gods such as our own are not allowed to raise any human or part-human descendants. We were lucky that the Dimensional Witch was willing to take him in."

Mergandevinasander snorted, but said nothing. The three Dragons were lucky that it was so late out. Very few humans could see them at this time of the night.

Back on the ground, the celebrating ended. Yuuko wanted more to drink and Harry rolled his eyes in amusement. Watanuki began protesting as all of the stores were now closed due to the late hour and the local gangs were probably roaming the streets so going back to the shop alone was a bad idea.

Doreiku handed something to Harry. The British teen opened it. His emerald eyes widened in shock. It was Japan's Underage Magic laws, or really a list of spells he was not allowed to use like any Japanese magical citizen. There were very few on there. It included a reminder about not using magic where nonmagicals not in the know could see. There was a postscript that read: Anyone who works for or is associated with the Dimensional Witch known by the name Yuuko Ichihara is automatically classified as in the know. To inform us that you have read this and intend to follow the law, please cast a spell. Your magical signature will be recorded.

Harry stared at Doreiku, "Is this true? The law is really this way?"

The silver-eyed teen nodded, "Indeed, just remember to do it within reason. I would suggest only using magic at the shop. That way there are fewer misunderstandings."

Unbeknownst to the supernaturally aware group or the three dragons heading their way, something fouler neared. In the center of Tokyo proper, in a tall high rise that just seemed to be another office building, alarms began to blare in the Control of Magical Creatures department.

The night staff rushed over to the computer to see what was the matter. They swore and one member scrambled off to inform the Head of Department. Nonnative demons were in Japan without the government's permission and they were converging on the area where Harry Potter was reported to be now residing.

Yuuko strolled over to the grinning pair of teen boys, her usual mysterious smile present. The rest of the group were close behind the witch. The silver-eyed teen smirked at Harry.

"Tomorrow, training begins," he grinned, causing Harry to shiver slightly in fear. That look promised untold amounts of pain. Luckily, Yuuko interfered.

"That will have to wait, Doreiku. There are tests that I am going to give Harry and he must complete them."

Unnoticed by the group, the temperature was slowly dropping and the ground had begun to frost over. Then Harry heard something that thanks to the last year, he was too familiar with. He heard his mother beg for his life to be spared. The young wizard whirled around and his eyes widened. _"Bugger,"_ he thought and drew his wand, still with the letter in hand, _"Dementors, I didn't think that they were native to Japan."_

"Doreiku!" He shouted, hoping that the silver-eyed teen knew what to do.

The teen in question whipped his head up and his eyes narrowed. Quick as a flash, he snapped his fingers and a weapon appeared in his hand and plate armor encased his body except for his head.

It was about 2.4 meters or 8-foot-long, on a wooden haft, with a metal spike on top and a curved axe head on one side and a spike on the other. This was a poleaxe. In the moonlight, it shined silver and glistened dangerously as Doreiku moved to the rear of the group, noticing that they were completely surrounded.

Doreiku spoke to the Dementors, his voice, though pitched low, could clearly be heard by all concerned. It was cold, emotionless as he said, "Sirius Black is not amongst us. You challenge the wrong being. Leave, _**now**_." The Dementors of course, didn't listen to the warrior and swarmed closer.

Seeing this, Yuuko raised a hand out in front of herself, ready to use her vast power. Harry quickly put a stop to the advance. Bringing up the happiest event he could muster, being reunited with family that actually cared about him, he raised his wand and shouted, "Expecto Patronum!"

A bright silver light lit up the park as out of the tip of his wand a creature emerged. But not the shining stag he had summoned before. This creature was massive. It was a griffon. The noble beast appeared to nod its great head to the young wizard before taking flight and charging straight into the Dementors closing in.

Luckily for the group, not long after this, as the spell usage had alerted the Japanese Magical Law Enforcement to the location of the Dementors, the Aurors appeared right on time and immediately began casting as the three flying dragons hurried to the location.

Doreiku was known to the Aurors as an entity and they knew what he could do to fell creatures like this. So not suffering any qualms about destroying creatures that they knew only came from one place and one place only, they herded the demons into a large group and gave the warrior the signal to move in as another team made sure that everyone else was alright.

Much to Watanuki's and Yuuko's surprise, Doreiku moved with a speed that neither would have even considered from the teen. He darted into the cluster of demons so quickly, his armor was a metallic flash as a shout of, "Divine Smite!" went out as he began striking hard and fast with all parts of his weapons. The Dementors screamed as they were hit with his weapon that radiated divine energy and one by one, they burned up with a white ghostly fire.

Seeing that Doreiku had things well in hand, Harry stopped his spell and staggered, exhausted, back to where the others were waiting. He collapsed next to Himawari, exhausted and winded, but conscious as the Aurors and Doreiku continued to eradicate the Dementors.

In no time at all, the entire mass of soul sucking demons had been destroyed. Doreiku conversed with the Aurors for a moment as the Head of the Department approached. Hit Witch Himejima Ayame spat something in a dialect that was way more ancient than anyone present except for Yuuko who had heard this dialect spoken before and Doreiku who was well learned.

" _Fucking Brits. Can't keep control of their own damn creatures_ _ **and**_ _manage to botch the laws of their own country._ " She switched to perfect English, "The Minister will be informed. This classifies as an invasion of Japanese sovereign territory and an act of war. There is a reason the entirety of the Pacific Rim and the New World declined to join that International Confederation."

Doreiku raised an eyebrow, "You're preaching to the choir, Ayame-san. Britain is as corrupt as they come. There's a reason why I hate going there." The two approached the rest of the group, Doreiku still in his armor and using his weapon as a walking staff.

Ayame stepped forwards glancing around at the gathered group. By this time Ame-Warashi and Zashiki-Warashi had left, neither sprite feeling all too great after the appearance of the Dementors. "Harry Potter?" The Department head asked.

Harry slowly stood up, leaning heavily on Himawari as he answered, "Yes ma'am?"

Ayame shook her head, "Call me Ayame, please. Very good job on that Patronus, young man. It was very impressive." The Hit Witch smiled gently, "And welcome to Japan." She disappeared with a crack.

Doreiku rejoined the group as the last of the Japanese Aurors left. He snapped his fingers, dispelling his weapon and armor, standing there in the same clothes that he wore when the moonlight picnic started. The silver eyed warrior sighed heavily. He hated having to kill around Yuuko and knew what she would say about that. Luckily, Himawari spoke first.

"Brrr, what were those things? I felt like I would never be happy again!" The curly haired girl remarked. "They were horrible! I'm glad that they're gone now!"

Harry answered her without any emotion, "Those were Dementors. They are horrible. They only come from one place; Azkaban island in the North Sea."

"Azkaban Island?" Watanuki asked as Yuuko frowned in displeasure at the killing.

Doreiku answered him, "The British Wizarding Prison. It's the only place on earth where you can go to hell without actually dying. Most go insane before dying. Very few ever finish their sentence. Only one has ever escaped and he was an innocent. Killing them was absolutely necessary."

"Yet the weight upon your soul and the universe….," Yuuko began to lecture before Doreiku shook his head.

"No, there is no weight. They are mix of undead and demon. Created by foul magics long ago. I swore an oath months ago that I would eradicate anything like them. Better that they die than any of you."

He looked around calmly as Harry included, "They suck out your soul and then months later your body dies, after being tortured by your worst memories. Many wizards would be quite happy to see them eradicated."

The Space-Time Witch sighed heavily, "Then I can deal with it. Now why don't we all head home? Doreiku?"

This last was because the warrior had fixated on something in the sky that was growing closer. Soon heavy wingbeats could be heard. Doreiku grabbed Yuuko by the hand and Harry, seeing this, grabbed the Witch's free hand.

Quick as a flash something deep blue flew by, whisking the three off of their feet. Watanuki was picked up by a silver blur with Mokona and Domeki and Himawari by a black blur.

"What's going on?" Harry heard Watanuki shout. The seer's eyes were closed against the wind and so he couldn't see what was going on. Harry, being much more accustomed to a wind in his face thanks to Quidditch, was able to see what was going on. He glanced around and thought to himself, _"Bloody Hell, I'm flying on the back of a dragon and it is not eating me!"_

Yuuko was holding on to Doreiku with a death grip, not caring at all about the fact that she was riding on the back of a Blue dragon.

Doreiku however, was speaking to the dragon, "Nestrix, what is going on? Why are you, Mergandevinasander, and Dargentum here?"

Yuuko froze when she heard Doreiku talk to the large dragon. Not even Clow Reed had ever tried that, although the greatest magician to ever live had never encountered a dragon before. Needless to say, she was surprised when the creature replied in a lower pitched feminine voice.

"Hatchling, our Lady and Lords have ordered us to bring all of you to them. For one thing, they wish to set up a time for your trail this summer and for the second thing," Nestrix chuckled to herself, "They wish to meet the woman who took you in and was granted immortality. It has been a long time since such an event happened. I must ask, however, what was the source of that horrible feeling of dread not too long ago?"

Watanuki could be barely heard shouting as he opened his eyes, "Why am I on the back of a dragon! This is extremely high up!"

Doreiku answered his mentor as Mergandevinasander and Dargentum flew closer to hear as they neared a large mountain range, such was the speed they were flying at, "That would be a group of Dementors. They're dead now, but I'm sure that you all know where they come from."

Nestrix answered, "Yes, and Lord Null will be informed of this." Mergandevinasander and Dargentum growled fiercely, as both the Silver and the Black hated the foul demons. Null was the only dragon and deity besides the Great One who was able to get rid of them permanently. The dragon god of creation, Asgorath, might have been able to, but he had died long ago when the Planes where very different to now and Dementors didn't exist then.

As they neared the Japanese Alps, a shining portal opened in midair. The dragons flew through it with their riders and they entered another plane. The Seven Mounting Heavens of Celestia. The sub-plane in particular was Lunia, where great constellations shine eternally in the night. The three dragons headed for a large shining structure that loomed out of the darkness.

Watanuki breathed, "That's a castle. But it's so huge! Who could live there?"

He didn't get an answer as the three dragons landed and helped the humans off their backs, Mokona not needing any since he easily hopped off. Once everyone was off, Doreiku turned to the three dragons.

"Sukriya, all of you. Sukriya," he bowed ever so slightly to the dragons, knowing his true rank amongst them.

"Nar viraka, youngling," the three answered and took off into the darkness, back to their own lands and territories.

The seven drew closer to the massive front doors of the castle, Doreiku in the lead. The fifteen-year-old slammed the side of his fist onto the door several times, knocking, which reverberated several times.

Domeki examined the structure of the castle while this was going on. "It's metal," he said, "I'd say silver but it is too hard to be silver, platinum maybe. Although platinum is rare so it can't be that."

Yuuko examined the castle after Domeki said this. Her conclusion came not too long afterwards. "It's mithril," she pronounced, "A rare, almost mythical metal. I've seen it before, but only in small amounts or passed down as heirloom treasures."

Just then the shining mithril doors opened, and a huge golden dragon head peered out.

"Who goes there?!" The Gold dragon called, "Answer swiftly!"

Doreiku shouted, "Marroshok, down here! Nestrix brought us!"

The gargantuan Gold dragon looked down and grinned, "Ah! Youngling, I see you've answered the summons. Please, all of you, enter and be welcome." With this the dragon pulled his great head back inside and stepped to the side, allowing the seven to enter the castle.

The inside of the castle was just as massive as the outside. All of the doors and halls were sized to dragons, and very large ones at that. Marroshok closed the doors as Doreiku asked, "Is my grandfather around or is he out having yet another squabble with my aunt?"

The Gold dragon laughed, "It still amuses me how to you the Dragonfall War is just a long series of sibling squabbles instead of a massive conflict. But to answer your question, yes, he is here. Actually, all three are. They're waiting in the audience chamber." He led them off down a series of hallways as Doreiku just shook his head and followed with Yuuko not far behind.

The Dimensional Witch asked her young charge, "Your grandfather and aunt? You said that all of those who could take you in were dead."

The warrior laughed, "I did and that is a fact. They are my great-great ancestor's and there are rules in place that prevented them from taking me in or interfering much in my life."

They rounded a corner and approached a massive chamber with a huge dais upon which three utterly titanic dragons lay. One was an impenetrable dark void that seemed to flicker every so often, then became solid as the visitors entered the chamber and its eye were completely white. It seemed utterly bored out of its great mind and seemed to be ignoring the other two dragons next to it.

The dragon on the far-left side facing into the room was mostly brown, but at where its neck emerged from its body, it split into five nonreflective colors of red, blue, green, black and white, with each color having its own neck and head. It was arguing with the dragon in the middle, the largest of the three by any measure.

This third, titanic dragon was platinum in color, with a metallic shine to its scales and brilliant blue eyes that changed shade constantly. Its forelimbs were crossed in front of it and the two were so deep into their argument that when Marroshok cleared his throat to get their attention, they did not notice. The void like dragon however did and inclined its head in greeting and then let loose a thunderous roar to interrupt the argument.

"Bahamut! Tiamat! Marroshok has arrived," He turned back to the Gold, who inclined his head in thanks and said, "Thank you, Lord Null. The ones you have summoned are here."

Doreiku stepped forwards, with Yuuko and the others not far behind and bowed to the three. "My Lady, My Lords, greetings to all of you."

There was a whirlwind of magic around the three dragons and then three humans were standing there. Where the five-headed dragon was, there now stood a Mulan woman with long black hair and completely black eyes in dark robes. In place of the dragon known as Null, a pale skinned man with milky white eyes and messy black hair that looked all to similar to Harry's hair and wearing a black suit. For the final dragon, there now stood as late-middle aged man wearing grey robes and with grey hair.

The middle-aged man spoke to the Gold dragon, "Marroshok, you may return to your duties." The Gold bowed, "Thank you Lord Bahamut," and left.

The three dragons in human form stepped down off of the dais and strode forwards. Bahamut said, "Rise." When the humans rose from their bows, Yuuko and Harry could see that the Mulan woman as gazing at Doreiku with mild irritation in her black eyes.

Bahamut spoke again, "I welcome you all to my castle. These are my siblings. My brother, Null, dragon god of death and undeath and my sister, Tiamat, dragon goddess of greed."

At this last, Null muttered to himself, "And major pain in the ass."

Doreiku rolled his eyes, "Alright Grandfather, enough with the grandstanding. It's good to see all of you."

At this remark, all three dragons gave a short burst of laughter, even the humorless Null cracked a smirk. Doreiku was as usual, direct. The Lord of the North Wind embraced his descendent and stepped back and the three resumed their dragon forms, Tiamat still gazing at Doreiku somewhat irritated, which he definitely noticed.

"What's wrong Aunt Tia? Didn't you like my present?" The teen asked innocently. Tiamat growled that him, "No, I did not. Get rid of it."

Null and Bahamut both raised a draconic eye ridge. "Nephew, what did you do?" Null queried to the boy, who gave a short answer.

"Peacocks. Thousands and thousands of peacocks in her lair and her horde," the dragon descended human smirked.

"AND THEY WON'T EVER SHUT UP!" Tiamat screamed, "All day and night they call and display and they won't leave. They're getting into everything! It's driving me crazy! I can't take it anymore!"

"It was inevitable," Doreiku told his aunt, sounding just like Yuuko to Watanuki. The Witch started laughing at this.

Tiamat growled again at the teen and each of her five heads opened their mouths readying their breath weapons. Bahamut raised his tail slightly and smacked his sister with it catching her attention as he stared at her disapprovingly. She closed her mouths and glared at Doreiku.

The teen snapped his fingers and said, "They're gone. I sent them to annoy someone else in the Nine Hells that you hate."

"Who?" Tiamat inquired.

"Asmodeus," came the reply.

The Dragon Queen smiled evilly, she now could expand her territory in Avernus again. Null interrupt her planning however.

"Sister, it is indeed a good thing that the head devil is distracted, but now is not the time to plan revenge. We do have matters to deal with at the present."

"Indeed, we do brother," Bahamut spoke, he cast his blue gaze over the gathered humans and black puffball. The two in the back, as well as the puffball were gazing at them in awe and a little bit of justifiable fear. The two boys standing just behind the woman had clear amazement written across their faces. The woman showed no emotion and was casting her gaze around lazily, her eyes half lidded, dressed in a dark red long-sleeved belly shirt with white and purple clouds on one sleeve and deep blue jeans with the purple clouds on the left leg and black sandaled platform heels.

The Platinum Dragon spoke again, "Yuuko Ichihara, please step forward."

Yuuko stepped forwards, gracefully seemingly unconcerned and the three titanic dragons stared down at her as her wine-red gaze held Bahamut in the eye steadily. The Platinum Dragon lowered his great head to look Yuuko in the eye. He smiled.

"Thank you, Yuuko Ichihara, Dimensional Witch, Mistress of Space-Time, for taking in my descendent, our last remaining blood kin. The last human of your power here was Clow Reed, long ago and even he never had audience with all three of us. Thank you for taking in Asgorath's reincarnation, The Mist-shrouded."

Yuuko turned her gaze to Doreiku, who said, "Just call me as you always have. It is a title and I never give the name my parents gave me nor my draconic name."

The Witch smiled gently in understanding, she did much the same.

Bahamut raised his giant head, and Tiamat spoke.

"Before the summer ends, you will have your trials. Once you complete them you will be able to be matched with your dragon companion. Your young wizard friend will also have trials to complete, but his by their very nature will not be as strenuous nor demanding as your own. Train hard and make us proud."

The amulet around Doreiku's neck glowed brightly and with a flash, changed to a simple multicolored metallic disk, the holy symbol of Asgorath, the dragon god of creation, Worldshaper, he who fought the primordial Erek-Hus during the final millennium of the Days of Thunder.

Tiamat and Null both then vanished off to their realms and Bahamut spoke again.

"I now send you all back to your respective homes. We will meet again before the summer is out. Yuuko, you will be offered a teaching position before the month of August ends. I recommend that you accept it and be on your guard. Foul things are moving in Europe and you must be prepared."

With that said, audience chamber lit up with a flash of light. Everyone shut their eyes tightly and they felt a whirling sensation and then their feet hit the ground.

Watanuki opened his eyes. They were back at the shop and Domeki and Himawari weren't with them. He started to panic, then stopped as Yuuko put her hand on his shoulder.

"Both Domeki and Himawari are home safe. The Platinum Dragon would never go back on his word. It's late and we all need to go to bed. Harry looks dead on his feet."

Watanuki ushered the exhausted Harry inside and Doreiku and Yuuko both followed slowly. Doreiku spoke slowly, "Yuuko, I advise you to listen to what Bahamut said there at the end. He never gives recommendations like that unless events are looming that could harm many. I also sensed concern from Tiamat and Null over this issue, which is rare."

Yuuko spoke softly, "I will consider it, Doreiku." They began to climb the stairs to the second floor to Yuuko's room. Doreiku's room was next to hers and Harry and Watanuki were sharing a room at the moment. Before Doreiku entered his room, Yuuko asked, "Why didn't you tell me that you are part dragon? Or that you are the reincarnation of Asgorath?"

"For the first question, it just never came up. And as for the second, I never knew."

The Witch smiled and embraced the boy she could now call her son, and kissed his forehead. "Get some sleep," She whispered and ushered him into his room before slipping off into hers.


	3. Chapter 3: The Invitation

**AN: This chapter and the next are entirely the XxxHOLIC: A Midsummer Night's Dream. For those that asked or were wondering, Doreiku translates into Drake, as in a male dragon, in Japanese. That is not, however, the character's actual name. That will be revealed in time.  
**

 **Chapter 3: The Invitation**

A few weeks had passed since Doreiku and Harry had entered the shop and it was absolutely sweltering as Watanuki walked down the road from the store, the happy cries of children just released from the prison of school for the one month of summer dreams, such tantalizing dreams.

Watanuki didn't have any of those. The seer slowly walked along, his head hanging low due to exhaustion and the heat, mostly the heat though. He had finished placement exams for high school, having taken a year off, he would have been a year behind Domeki and Himawari, but luckily, he had managed to keep up with his education and was still in the same year.

"And, that's finally…over." He sighed with relief, catching his breath on his way to Yuuko's shop after running by the store for another hangover cure. Actually, that was what filled the two bags that he was carrying. Doreiku had told him before he had left that morning that he would hide it in his room and no one touched a dragon's things if they wished to live.

He took a deep breath in and snarled, "Would you just leave me alone already?!"

Hanging off of the seer there was a huge, one-eyed spirit clinging to his back and getting its smelly, squirming, slimy body all over him, unseen by anyone else thanks to his ability to attract spirits like cats to catnip. He tried to shove it off, but it didn't work and the teen began having trouble breathing or even moving, as if someone was trying to suffocate him.

Watanuki's breath was getting dangerously short, the spirit pressing everything but his screaming lungs and the punishing heat from his thought. Then, it vanished. That weight was completely gone as the spirit lifted away, taking all the horrible feelings with it. He stared, trying to catch his breath.

"It went away!" He gasped with joy.

"Need help with that, Watanuki?" Came the monotoned voice of Domeki. The boy turned around, clutching the bags. The archer was standing a few feet away with his usual stare. Watanuki was going to deny needing help, but reconsidered.

"Thanks," he handed Domeki one of the bags. The archer looked inside, "That's a lot of hangover cure's," he remarked, "I thought you said that Yuuko pretty much refused to keep any in the shop?"

"She still does," Watanuki replied as the two boys headed to Yuuko's carrying the bags, the spirit following at a distance, "Doreiku said he'll hide it in his room and Harry said he'll help. Yuuko doesn't go in there. Something about not touching a dragon's horde."

"That's probably wise," the archer remarked, "I did some research after we got back from that impromptu trip and found that dragons like that haven't really been seen in any great number in a long time. I also learned that they are very protective of their things, willing to defend them to the death unlike the dragons that are common in our folklore."

"That explains it. He's rather nice and tidy so I never have to go in there except to get him up in the morning and he's pretty pleasant, so maybe he's got a secret cubbyhole in there under his bed or something."

They rounded the corner down into the alley where Yuuko's shop was located. Watanuki took the other bag from Domeki and the archer walked home. Watanuki saw the spirit approaching him again and touched the fence, the barrier that Yuuko had placed repelling the spirit and sending it running with a final few grabs. He watched it disappear, grateful in a way that Yuuko was powerful enough to set up a barrier of this kind. He continued inside towards the shop with the bags. Doreiku was waiting with Harry.

"We'll take them," Doreiku said and the boys rushed the bags around to the back entrance where they could scurry upstairs without being seen.

Once inside, Watanuki shut the door behind him, gaining relief from the oppressive heat. Something was different, the mailbox was open with a letter inside. This was weird, Yuuko practically never got any mail, actually the only mail that he had ever seen in the house/shop was brought by Hedwig, Harry's owl. But hey! No junk mail or bills!

It was intriguing, Yuuko getting a letter and he grabbed the envelope out of the mail cage. There was a daffodil on the front of it and all it read was "Invitation," nothing on the back when the boy looked for an address. Then something else grabbed the seer's attention: Maru and Moro were standing at the end of the _genkan,_ wearing their short, summer dresses, gesturing towards the hall.

"The mistress has been waiting for you," They said, their ever-cheerful youthful voices in perfect sync as usual when they greeted anyone.

"She needs me now?" He asked, slipping his shoes off.

"Yes," the girls replied.

Watanuki stepped into the shop proper and turned the corner, grabbing his apron before following the twins to Yuuko's receiving room and pulled back the crescent moon screened doors.

"Yay! Watanuki's back!" Mokona shouted cheerfully, bouncing all over the room, drawing a shout from Doreiku from upstairs that Harry was doing his homework and to be quiet. Yuuko was lying on her fainting couch in her red and white rose kimono with the large yellow bow in the front, her head turned away from the sliding door with her black hair cascading like a waterfall down onto the floor. There was, on the floor, a tipped over saké bottle next to her.

"Ha-ha! Watanuki's back! Hehe! Welcome home!" Watanuki ignored the bunny as it zigged and zagged around the room and Doreiku could be clearly heard telling Harry to put his homework aside for now, but watched Yuuko. She was not looking very energetic today.

"Yuuko?" The seer asked, leaning over the couch to try and look at the Witch's face.

"Hello, Watanuki," Yuuko answered despondently, turning her head to look at him. "Sake," she ordered, her voice grumpy, brisk, and demanding.

"HUH?!" His mouth dropped to the floor.

"Saké!" shouted Maru cheerfully, raising a hand.

"Saké!" repeated Moro, raising her own hand before grabbing her twin's and skipping around in a circle.

"Saké!" Mokona finished off, jumping into view and then falling out of sight, completing the chant and Doreiku and Harry came running down the steps to see what the commotion was about.

"Geez!" he stomped in anger, "It's only the middle of the day and you're already out of saké?!"

"I've run out of my favorite kind, be a dear and go get me some!" The witch whined, turning over to lean her arms and head on the armrest of her couch, her red eyes following the boy as he stomped over to the gigantic bottle and picked it up, shaking it in the witch's face.

"Maybe you should learn to pace yourself one in a while!" Watanuki huffed, "Anyway, I'm going to have to special order this so it'll take a few days. I hope you can wait that long." Doreiku shook his head and Harry muttered, "She's worse than the seventh years at school. Or Hagrid, I didn't think anyone could be worse than Hagrid."

The seer switched his brain into "taking care of Yuuko's neediness," and got ready for work, setting the bottle upright on the floor and throwing his apron on and tying it in the back. "Now, I'm here to serve you for the rest of the summer. Cooking, cleaning, gardening, which of these enjoyable tasks would you like me to start with?" he asked.

"All of them," Yuuko smoothly answered, her Cheshire Cat grin on display as Doreiku and Harry groaned. They had learned that Yuuko enjoyed pushing Watanuki's buttons if she could.

"WAH! I can't do all that!" He shrieked out, which apparently started an ache in Yuuko's head. The woman sat up and leaned up against the armrest, her free hand coming up to rub her temple.

"Quit shouting, Watanuki, you'll give me a headache," Yuuko sighed as Doreiku murmured to Harry, "No wonder, with how much she drinks before bed." Yuuko ignored him, and focused on Watanuki, "Now isn't true that I've granted your request? I've found a way of getting the spirits to leave you alone, isn't that right? You've been bothered by them a lot less, lately haven't you?"

Watanuki made a face and didn't answer her.

"And in exchange, you've agreed to do whatever work I need. This is the deal we made, wasn't it?" Silence. Yuuko smiled, knowing that she was always right. "Alright then, you can start today with tidying up my treasured storehouse."

The seer's mood dropped further. That was the worst and most tedious task the witch could think of.

"I'll get right on it," he sighed. "Oh, I forgot!" He took out the letter that had been in the mail box and handed it to his boss. "Here."

Yuuko took the letter and opened it while Doreiku and Harry moved further into the room. Watanuki watched the witch, curious to know what it said.

"Well, I must say that this letter seems more like a demand than an invitation," Yuuko remarked at last.

"Seriously? What does it say?" The heterochromic eyed boy asked. Of course, Yuuko gave him "that look," the one that looked like she was a cat who'd caught the canary. This caused Harry to gulp in nervousness.

"You want to know?" The Witch asked, twirling one finger around a section of her hair.

"No way!" The seer reconsidered, shaking his head. "You'd probably demand compensation for telling me. I'll just go clean." He rushed off to start on his first chore of the day.

"My, my… they learn so quickly," Yuuko softly laughed, tucking the letter into her kimono. "But make me some snacks and tea first!"

Doreiku shook his head and walked over to the witch. "You probably shouldn't push his buttons like that too much, Mom," he said softly.

Yuuko snapped his head around, still not quite used to this, "And why not?" she asked.

Doreiku and Harry shared a quick glance, and the silver eyed teen said, "Just don't."

Watanuki finished making the snack and got to work. Having set several blankets out on the lawn, he dragged objects and vases and a multitude of items he didn't even know existed out of the storehouse. There was even a piano (which he had to move all by himself until Harry silently began helping while Doreiku sent the laughing trio of Maru, Moro, and Mokona scattering with a growl of, "Leave." The heat was starting to irritated the silver eyed teen.)

Once everything was finally, finally, outside, the real cleaning began. Watanuki tied a headscarf around his hair to keep out most of the dirt and dust and got to work slapping dust out of the objects while Harry spritzed down his owl with ice water and gave her a drink. Doreiku was collapsed on the deck next to Yuuko, as much of his last eighteen months had been spent in the nice cool mountains.

"Gross! When was the last time you dusted?!" He growled at Yuuko as his boss sipped her tea.

"Never."

"Never!" Maru repeated.

"Never!" Moro chanted.

"This is ridiculous!" He ranted, and did a furious little dance. "You don't even need all this stuff! Why do you keep it!?"

"In my line of work, one acquires many things. I never got around to throwing anything away and so it became…a collection of sorts."

"There's no reason to hang onto all this stuff! You're a pack rat!" His duster hit something round and black and he foolishly stopped to look at it. "Huh? What's this?" He tapped it again and the object laughed.

"Hahaha! Hey, that tickles!" Mokona jumped out of the box he was hiding in and leapt up on a vase. "You found me! Now close your eyes and I'm going to hide again!"

"No, you little rodent!" Watanuki swung his duster at the bunny and missed when it jumped, landing on his face and beginning to try and suffocate him.

"Geoff! Ian'teeth!" He exclaimed, but Mokona muffled his voice. He grabbed the bunny and tried pulling it off as hard as he could, but to no avail, pulling his face with it.

Doreiku raised his head at this. "Mokona!" The part-dragon's voice cracked out like a whip, "Enough!" He lowered his head back onto the deck, the heat making him cranky.

This startled Mokona just enough so that Watanuki could pull it off with a pop and it flew across the yard, Watanuki collapsing on the ground as Harry returned to see what was going on. Mokona rolled down the cobblestones and stopped next to the feet of a young woman, pretending to be a stuffed animal.

The woman was in a blue strappy dress, and her pale eyes were very sad. She had short brown hair and very pale skin and carried nothing else on her person. She looked down at Mokona and then looked at the shop as if she couldn't understand why such a thing was there in the first place. This look was so familiar to Watanuki, and he immediately knew that this woman was here to see Yuuko. He walked up and was about to greet her when the woman spoke first.

"Are you the one?" The customer asked softly.

"Huh?" The boy answered dumbly.

"They said if I came here, someone would help me."

"Oh, um…Yuuko's the one you want to see," the seer answered, looking at the witch. Harry disappeared inside and Doreiku hoisted himself up with a grunt, knowing where this was going, heading inside.

"Watanuki, let's go inside," Yuuko called, gracefully standing and heading into the shop, trailing her kimono behind her. Watanuki led the customer inside and set them both up in one of the rooms with a table and two chairs so he could serve tea. Doreiku and Harry stood in the hall almost as guards, but really listening in.

The woman didn't talk at all as he prepared the tea or served it, but instead watched the boy do everything, even to the point of following his hand as he set a teacup and saucer in front of her. The seer gave a small smile.

"What is it?" he asked. The woman looked down at her hands in her lap.

"Is it true, what I heard?" She asked in a soft whisper that seemed to be her normal voice. She was shy and timid it seemed. "Can Yuuko really grant any wish? No matter what?"

"Yeah, she can," the seer nodded.

"What you've heard about me is true: I can grant any wish that you might have." And now that the business part of things had started, Watanuki picked up the serving tray and left the room, expecting to go back and finish cleaning the storehouse, but was stopped by Maru and Moro who were eavesdropping again. He stayed, leaving the door open a crack to listen in. He then noticed Harry and Doreiku leaning against the wall not too far down.

The part-timer quirked and eyebrow at them. Doreiku answered him, "Things are going to get interesting and Harry hasn't seen Yuuko in action yet." Watanuki turned his attention back to spying.

"However, I always require suitable compensation for my services," Yuuko continued, adding the catch that got everyone.

"And there she goes," the seer murmured quietly, rolling his eyes in exasperation. "Getting sucked in like I did. She has a wish and now she's caught in the trap."

"Caught in a trap!" Maru gleefully chimed.

"Caught in a trap!" Moro repeated after her sister.

"You three, out!" Yuuko snarled, pointing and glaring at her eavesdropping servants. Watanuki shot to his feet and tripped against the door, throwing his tray into the air for it to be caught by a giggling Moro as he sank to the floor. Doreiku and Harry fist bumped each other silently, grinning. Draconic magic for the win!

"I'm willing to pay you anything you want," The woman said, ignoring the eavesdroppers. The she was smiling. "I'm so relieved. When I first heard about you, I didn't think it could be true, I didn't believe the man who first told me about your shop. I wasn't going to come, but then I happened to pass by and though I'd take a look."

"I don't believe in happenstance or coincidence," Yuuko replied, repeating the same mantra that Watanuki had burned into his very being at this point in time. "You didn't just "happen" to pass by- your coming here was inevitable, whether you know it or not. Similarly, it is inevitable that I grant your wish and so I shall. Is that understood? Tell me your wish."

"This is going to sound strange…I left my house a long time ago and when I came back, I couldn't get inside," the woman was a little frantic and confused. "I have my key and everything!"

The woman took out a golden key with a Celtic knot decoration on the top, twisted into a four-leafed clover. The teeth of the key didn't look normal either, more like for a puzzle box than a key to a house. Watanuki leaned around Yuuko's head to study it, intrigued. "Oh, please…please help! I need to go home!"

And so Watanuki got sucked into more trouble, this time with Harry and Doreiku following. Yuuko agreed to grant the woman's wish and by the end of the day, thanks to a dint of hard work by all three boys, the storehouse was cleaned and packed away and everyone was packed for the trip.

They were at the house the woman had talked about by mid-afternoon the following day, staring at the corroding gate with the same symbol on it as the key had. The mansion behind the gate was huge…and ugly, in Watanuki's opinion. It seemed like a crazy madman built it. One part was eastern style, the tower looked like a Gothic Cathedral, another part looked like the Taj Mahal, the front like a French chateau, and there was scaffolding everywhere. The huge front lawn seemed to be the only normal thing about this place.

"Well, this seems to be the right place," Yuuko stated, opening the rusty gate with a push and walking inside. Watanuki followed the witch in, sneakily thinking that Yuuko looked just as gaudy as the house, dressed in a dress somewhere between maroon, fuchsia, magenta and violet with dangerously high slits in the skirt and a gigantic choker necklace made up of rectangular chunks of amethyst that crawled up her neck.

The witch did manage to make gaudy look sexy, however. This was the common though on most of the boys' minds. Watanuki was in his normal school uniform. "We found the girl's house, now all we have to do is get in."

"Wow! That house is huge!" Mokona cried, popping out of Watanuki's bag.

"It certainly is, and the architecture is quite fine."

"It doesn't strike you as a bit ominous?" Watanuki warily asked, eyeing the house. Then he remembered something else. "Domeki, you're fine with spending part of your summer break here?"

"Yes," came the reply.

"Why?" Yuuko asked, her voice becoming seductive as a gloved hand came up to slide one of the dress straps off her shoulder. "Were you thinking that it would be just you and me?" The witch finished with a mischievous grin. Watanuki blushed as Harry and Doreiku groaned.

"You know that's not what I meant," the seer shouted, his voice echoing off the mountains. "GEEEAHAAAAHAH!"

"Oh, well," Yuuko grinned, replacing her strap. Before she could say anything else, Doreiku interrupted.

"This place reminds me of the Tomb of Horrors," The part dragon said ominously, "There'd better not be a lich in there."

Watanuki realized that he was being left behind and hurried to catch up. "What's a lich?" He asked the warrior.

Doreiku just answered with, "Ask me that some other time."

Watanuki sighed, "This is why you should have invited Himawari…"

"Speaking of invitations," Yuuko interrupted the seer's pity party and got back to the business at hand. "I found it rather odd that I was invited to this mansion on the same day that we found out the owner couldn't enter it. Interesting, don't you think?"

"Actually, I find it pretty freaky!" Watanuki snapped.

Harry sighed in exasperation, "How long will they keep this up?"

Doreiku answered the young wizard, "Until they are interrupted," he said as Domeki and Yuuko started to tease Watanuki. Doreiku then had enough. He unleashed a presence that would frighten anyone caught in it briefly. He caught the three off guard and they froze when he growled, "Children, that is enough." At this moment, when Watanuki and Domeki turned around, the silver-eyed teen didn't seem like he was a teen, but a disapproving elder. The presence faded.

Yuuko took the door knocker in her hand and tapped it a few times. A few moments passed and then the door opened without anyone pulling on it. Watanuki gazed in horror but both Yuuko and Domeki both started walking to the door like nothing was wrong. Doreiku and Harry followed.

"What the-!" The seer gaped.

"What's wrong?" Domeki turned to look at his erstwhile friend.

"That woman we talked to earlier said she couldn't get into her own house so how is it that we can walk right in?" The seer was surprised that no one was thinking that this was weird.

"So, the house doesn't recognize its owner, but it recognizes guests just fine," the witch mused. "Very hospitable when you think about it." And she and Domeki both walked inside with Doreiku and Harry.

"Wait!" The seer yelped, extremely creeped out. A creak startled him and he spun around. It was just a single seat chair swing on a tree branch.

The chair was made up of twisting metal formed into swirls that would've been pretty if the house wasn't so creepy. He hurried after his four companions, the door shutting itself.

Inside the house was just as strange as the outside. The front room was designed in an octagon shape with four staircases that led to balconies that led to other staircases in a looping pattern. In between each of the staircases on the other four walls were doors and stain glass windows rose above them. The floor was mosaic tiles and there was a single small table at the center of the room.

There was a note on it, one Yuuko picked up and opened while Domeki and Watanuki were still staring around the dim room. Doreiku pulled Harry over to Yuuko and said in a low murmur, "Don't leave each other's sight." Yuuko barely nodded to show that she understood his meaning.

"Welcome and thank you for coming," The witch read aloud. "Please proceed down the hallway directly in front of you." She looked up and indeed, the door in front of her was open and ajar. "I guess we go straight then." She smiled and started striding towards the door singing out, "Is anybody home?" Harry was close behind her.

"Hey! Hold on a second!" Watanuki yelled. "This is weird!" However, in the end, he ended up following the others, Doreiku after glaring at the house. They entered into a really long hallway, one that seemed to be made of granite, because the walls were a mix of marbled white and grey with little alcoves that held vases of flowers and was lit by bluebell shaped lamps.

"Am I the only one who's freaked out here?! He pointed back at the door but neither Domeki or Yuuko were looking.

"I am getting more and more disturbed," Doreiku said. "This is starting to get like so many of the tombs I ventured into during my training."

They came to the end of the hallway, a single door waiting at the end with another small end table and another note. Yuuko grabbed the note again and read it aloud.

"Please open the door and enter." She set the note down as Domeki reached for the door handle and pulled. Behind the door there was a black wall of stone.

"A wall," Watanuki deadpanned, giving Yuuko sarcastic eyes as he pointed at the obstruction. "Oh, shoot. I guess we have to go back."

"Why don't you try opening it?" Yuuko asked slyly.

"Me?" Watanuki pointed at himself. There was no other exit so she could amuse Yuuko. "Okay." He gently pushed Domeki out of the way and shut the door, immediately pulling it open again. When the door opened, the wall was gone, replaced by a parlor looking room full of tables, chairs, couches, drinks and people chatting.

The room had a dark wood floor and ceiling and the walls were a beige tan color and was decorated with green cushioned chairs and couches and wooden tables. There was a fireplace in one corner with a picture of the mansion hanging above it and on the other walls there were windows. The windows, however, showed the inside of the house.

Watanuki took a look at the people in the room. There were seven: a fat, older man in a suit that was sitting at a table with a skinny guy in glasses and a kimono, a tall blonde woman in an orange dress, a tan-skinned man in a frilly purple shirt, a short, plump, unattractive woman in a pink dress, a skinny old man with white hair wearing a blue robe over a white long-sleeved article of clothing all at another table and a laid back, scruffy-looking guy in a red jacket lounging on a couch by himself. They all were deep in conversation.

"It was chilling to think he would pass off a piece to me…," said the fat man in the suit.

"And that piece that I got last year leaves me just short of completing my collection," the tan in the purple frilly shirt said to his table mates.

"And how's your collection coming along?" The blonde woman asked the one in in the pink dress. The pink dressed one had to swallow all the food she'd crammed into her mouth before she answered.

"Oh, it's coming along fine. It should be finished soon." That's when Watanuki realized that everyone here but Yuuko's little group was similar.

"What are we doing here? You realize that we don't collect anything, right? He turned his head to Yuuko but the witch seemed unconcerned, and shut the doors behind them and then folded her arms demurely.

"Why don't we just go talk to them? It never hurts to make new friends," The Dimensional Witch answered the boy walking past him.

Doreiku hissed lowly, "Harry, Watanuki, Domeki," this caught their attention, "I want the three of you to listen to me right now. Don't talk to these people, especially those two in the back there." He gestured to the fat man in the suit and the one in the red jacket.

The part-dragon warrior continued, "Let Yuuko and I do the talking and Harry?" The green-eyed wizard glanced over at him from where Yuuko was waiting, "Don't go anywhere without myself or Yuuko. Something is very wrong here, and I don't like it."

They continued into the room, Watanuki hearing a quiet clink-clink-clink of metal as Doreiku walked. The seer raised an eyebrow at Yuuko's adopted son who simply put a finger on his lips to not say anything. The silver eyed teen handed Yuuko something as he fell in just in front of Harry. The witch needed no explanation.

"So, tell me about this collection of yours," the old man in the suit asked the skinny man in the kimono and glasses. "Have you been working on it very long now? Is it close to being complete?"

"I'd rather not say," the kimono man answered, brushing some of his brown hair out of his face. "I'm working on a rather difficult acquisition right now, you see."

"Looks like we have some new comers with us," the old man said, noting Yuuko walking up to the alcohol table next to theirs that was filled with glasses and bottles of champagne and saké. "And I'm sure I've never seen this lovely face before. What's your name, little girl?"

Yuuko picked up a flute of champagne before turning around and answering.

"You can call me Yuuko," She said, but Watanuki of course knew that that was an alias, but no one was ever going to drag Yuuko's real name out of her. "And I'm no little girl, old man."

"I like a girl with spunk!" He laughed. "So, tell us what it is you collect, Ms. Yuuko." Yuuko only took a sip of her champagne in response to the man's question. The old man scooted to the end of the couch, getting closer to the woman to have a conversation.

"I can only assume that you've been invited because you are a serious collector. Everyone here has a well-known collection." With this he nodded to the others at the opposite table. "Many of us convene regularly to compare notes and such. Surely we're all here in response to the same invitation." He reached into his suit pocket and pulled out the same invitation that Yuuko had received. "Read!" the old man offered.

Watanuki, curious, walked over at the same time Yuuko took the note and both leaned over to read it, which Watanuki did out loud while Doreiku and Domeki pull guard duty on Harry.

"Your collection is not yet complete. If you wish to complete it as any true collector does, please accept this invitation to a gathering at my home."

"Imagine the nerve! Insinuating that we weren't true collectors!" The Suit man started again. "Naturally, we felt compelled to come here and set this man straight. And if doing so adds to my collection, well I won't complain." He was smug as he was talking and Watanuki felt alarm. "Now what is it you said you collected?"

Doreiku pushed Watanuki behind him in a way that told the seer to not answer and guard Harry.

In response to the old man's questions, Doreiku held up Mokona acting as a stuffed toy to Yuuko.

A moment of quiet passed before the old man and the skinny guy burst out into laughter, and not the nice kind.

"What an embarrassingly common collection," the kimono guy remarked, his smile nasty. "Everyone knows a truly expert collection is judged by its uniqueness."

"And what is it you collect, boy?" The old man called to Doreiku, who growled.

"First off, don't call me boy. And second of all," he paused, "Duck," and something went spinning past the old man into the wall near his head. Everyone looked, it was a rather nasty looking dagger. Doreiku flicked his hand and the dagger returned, merely because there was a very thin, but strong wire attached. He put it away. Watanuki and Domeki dragged Harry away to look at the painting over the mantle. It looked like a party at the mansion filled with people.

"There's your answer." He said, not even flinching at Yuuko's glare.

The laughter continued, louder and crueler this time, but the two women were noticeably silent. The boy's tone warned them that things were going to get dangerous if they joined in.

"That's even more boring than hers!" The suit man mocked. "And the other three?"

"Good grades and progress reports like any good students should," Yuuko answered this time, clearly getting the message that Doreiku was getting pissed at the mocking.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Good grades and progress reports!" The laughter was definitely cruel now, they couldn't stop and catch their breath. "Who invited them?!"

Watanuki was listening in, no wonder Doreiku didn't want them speaking. These people were nasty! Then his attention was drawn away from the painting as he was listening to the lady in the pink dress with the white collar.

"I wonder how the owner of this house knew who we were and how to contact us," She stared, her hands gesturing to the group as a whole. "Very strange. We've never even met him and out of the blue we get this cryptic invitation to a place we've never been."

"I don't understand it either," Frilly Shirt shrugged.

"Do you know what's going on?" Plump Pink asked Yuuko. She shook her head in response. "I just wish I knew what to expect."

"Listen to all of you!" The man on the couch by himself, Red Jacket, started talking, "If you ask me, the strangest thing is that you all showed up to some random guy's house just because he sent you a little note." Everyone considered the man's similar situation.

"Well, you showed up too," Frilly Shirt replied, his voice a little irritated.

"Correction, my friend," Red Jacket started again, sipping from his tumbler, "I'm just here for the entertainment. But if the owner of the mansion does show his face, he insulted my collection, we'll have a chat."

"Oh my," Plump Pink sniffed.

"Don't pay any attention to him," Frilly Shirt waved off Red Jacket. "Everyone here is an outstanding collector! That's certainly why we were invited here tonight. Why, when I think of the company I'm in, I'm nearly breathless in admiration!"

" _Oh yeah, where was that pleasantness a minute ago?"_ Watanuki thought. "Oh now, you're just saying that!" Plump Pink wave him off, though she was smiling.

"At least there's one gentleman here," the blonde lady with the white and orange dress smiled. The white-haired man in the robes at their table nodded as well.

"Nonsense! I'm merely stating the obvious!" Frilly Shirt answered.

"We could say the same to you," Pink replied.

"Oh, stop it! I'm blushing!" Frilly Shirt said back.

"No, really!" Blondie put in.

"I agree," White Hair went on.

"Bunch of friggin idiots," Red Jacket muttered to himself under his breath.

At this point in time, Watanuki started to lose all sense of the conversations going on as the collectors all started talking and flattering and praising themselves and each other at once. The boy looked around and tried to make sense of everything going on, but a nasty black haze had permeated the room, covering everything in sight and making it hard to see anyone clearly.

The collector's faces had morphed into odd shapes, Kimono Man's lengthening into one that looked like a rat, and Suit Man's face resembled a pig's face. Blondie's eyes bugged out, Pink was coughing up what looked like smoke, White Hair seemed like he'd aged a thousand years, Frilly Shirt's mouth was twisting and had fangs, his tongue lolling out of his mouth and Red Jacket's jaw was lengthening and pinching.

"Uh, what's that smell?" The seer nearly choked as the scent of decay and death and manure hit his nose. He clamped his hand over his face and pinched his nose shut, looking around the room again. The collector's faces had deformed even more, looking like some strange painting.

"You're seeing something again, aren't you?" Yuuko asked through the rising noise of the chatter and self-praise. Her boss seemed the only one who still was normal. Well, her and Doreiku, he couldn't see Harry or Domeki right now.

"Yeah, I've never seen anything like this before!" Spirits were one thing, but people? This was not normal. "It's like some sort of haze."

"What you're seeing is their greed, vanity, and pride. The collectors are so full of all of these things it's making you sick." It only got worse and worse. He could barely breathe anymore, let alone see anything in the room, including the little girl peeking inside the windows at the gathering.

"What's wrong?" Domeki inquired, seeing Watanuki get worse. The seer looked at the archer, he and Harry were all distorted as well, but only due to the collectors.

"You don't see it?" He coughed out.

"Uh, no," Domeki replied and then grabbed a snack. The haze was making him look more disgusting then he actually was, but Watanuki's stomach churned and he knew he needed to get out of here before he lost his lunch and embarrassed himself.

"I can't take this anymore!" He groaned, looking around the black haze as best he could to find another exit or a restroom, where he could vomit in peace. The seer spotted a sign with a hand pointing to the left that read "Restroom," which indicated that a restroom was outside the only other door currently in the room. Watanuki stumbled over to the door and opened it, leaving the gathering and the only people he felt like he knew and wandered into the mansion.

* * *

Outside the parlor, the hallway was lit dimly, and even though he searched everywhere, Watanuki couldn't find a light source, so the seer just stumbled down the hall, hand over his mouth to keep his stomach contents inside until he had a sink or toilet to lean over. He kept following the signs on the walls, but something strange was happening. First, it was only one sign per wall panel, then two, then three and then suddenly the walls, ceiling and floor were covered in them.

He followed them, looking around at all of them and spinning to see the ones on the ceiling until he came to the end of the hallway which turned right. The "Restroom" sign on the wall pointed right so he followed it. About ten feet. Where he stopped because there was a staircase that went into the ceiling. There was no way to go forward.

He stood there, wondering what he should do. "This can't be right," his eyebrows furrowed, dropping his hand from his mouth, forgetting his urge to vomit. Right before he turned around and start back, the risers of each stair step started spinning, showing kanji that weren't there before hand. They kept changing as the risers spun, creating a whooshing sound that got faster and faster until the risers stopped spinning. Now they all read, "The restroom is under the stairs."

Watanuki looked at the writing, "Huh?" He looked to the side of the stairs and saw another "Restroom" sign and stuck his head around the staircase. There was a gap on the left side, big enough for someone his size to squeeze through. Foolishly, he tried going through face-forward and got stuck somewhat.

He had to squirm and wiggle and writhe for a few moments before he got free, falling flat on his face when he popped out. "GAH!" He yelped in pain, rolling on his back and clutching his squashed nose. As he was groaning, he found a small door tucked away on the floor. It was child sized and had a flower carved into the center of a circle that split the opening.

Watanuki grabbed a small handle in each hand and opened the door, ducking his head into the passage below. There was a small crawlspace lined with tatami mats on the floor.

"Do I have to do all this just to get to a restroom?" He growled, dropping down carefully and wriggling his body into the passage. And the door slammed shut. He panicked, trying to flip himself around and getting tangled up so badly that his back popped painfully.

After untangling himself, he combat-crawled down the passageway in a huff. Eventually he came upon another sign, hanging this time, that pointed down at the tatami mats. He smacked the mat trying to find a trap door. Then he heard wind and put his ear to the floor.

He moved left and the floor tipped, dumping the boy into a room made of tatami mats fitted together so that there was not a gap in them. Watanuki picked himself up and looked around. There were no exits but still the sound of wind.

"Huh?" He said, one of the walls behind him was different. It had a square mat in the middle of it, not in the corner like the other. He did a running karate kick and knocked the square mat out revealing a tiny doorway.

He crawled out and entered what looked like the entryway to a Japanese shrine, and it was raining. It didn't matter to him, so he walked down the long staircase that passed two floors of balconies, all covered in sutras and charms on them. When he got back to the first floor, he was inside again and had dried off somewhat.

This continued to be the pattern, first an unfinished cathedral catwalk, then miniature shrines holding Japanese kokeshi dolls, then the outside of an old Japanese town, next a catwalk that was suspended over dozens of floors and it veered to the right before straightening out again.

He looked around, feeling as though he was being watched. "It seems like…someone's watching me," he said to no one at all.

The next room he entered had only stone catwalks that looked like the Paris catacombs, the cathedral stain glass window that he had seen outside lit up on the right-hand side. The next room had only three walk ways that formed an image that looked like the Pisces zodiac symbol, the spaces filled with water and waterlilies. The next had four red cushions around a well pond that held exotic fish.

"Five…six…seven…eight…" He straightened up, trying to remember what he was doing. "Huh… I can't remember why I came down here…oh, yeah! That's right!" He ran out of the fish room and into a hallway that actually contained the bathrooms. They were very modern.

He went into the men's room and emptied his stomach into a sink, getting rid of all those nasty feelings from the parlor room. Watanuki also for good measure used the toilet and washed up afterwards not knowing if he would have to do all this again. All the lights in the room were small square ones built into the wall, or they were long bars that made diamond shapes on the ceiling.

He finished cleaning up and was about to dry his hands and leave when something hit him on the head, getting his attention.

"Huh?" The boy saw that a note a fallen from the vent above him and had landed on the counter. He wiped his hands and picked it up, opening it to read what was inside. "Dinner is served in the main dining room. The others have already been seated and your immediate presence is requested." At the bottom of the note there was a map that would be useful when Watanuki headed back to the dining hall.

He looked up at the vent, trying to see if someone was in there but it was too dark. But it confirmed it. "I was right," he glanced around in suspicion, "Someone is watching me."

Despite his trepidation, Watanuki needed to get back to Yuuko and the others…and he was hungry, if the noises his stomach was making were any sign. He followed the map as best he could, the construction of the house making it difficult to follow and he passed through new rooms and saw new things there as well as a few that he had seen before.

He felt as though eyes were on him the entire time, causing a great feeling of fear to run up his back. By the time this feeling of being followed reached its height, Watanuki was almost to the main dining room. He was walking down a hall with paper screened windows on his left and a forest of bamboo stalks on his right.

The lighting that came through the windows created strange contrasts across the floor, dimming the far ends of the hall, but leaving the section he was on pretty well lit. It was decidedly spooky, not being able to see clearly where he was going. He stopped, gripping the note tightly.

He thought he had heard something in front of him. He jumped as a disembodied sobbing floated quietly down the hallway.

"W-who's there?" He stuttered with dread.

The sobbing continued. It grew louder and louder, echoing down the hallway as every second passed and then started coming from behind the boy and he now had no idea where he should run to should a spirit came at him.

The floors started to creak as if someone other than him was walking on them. He jumped, the dread morphing into terror and absolute panic, like a horse being hunted by some large predator. He started to sweat. Then everything stopped.

Watanuki looked around to see if something was going to show up, or if it was over. He looked at the paper windows ready to continue down this damn hall when a giant silhouette appeared on the side of the windows and smack its hands against the screens, screaming at a volume to wake the dead.

He screamed, terrified and bolted down the hall, across the catacomb room, through the hallways, all the while screaming. He burst through a door, tripping over his own feet, then fell on his face, flipped over onto his rear, rolling completely out of control across the floor and finally skidded to a stop in pain.

Watanuki finally looked up, he was in the dining room, everyone else was sitting and eating at the largest table he had ever seen, a lavish meal sitting on the pristine, white table cloth.

On the left side, beginning from the furthest seat away, Red Jacket, Plump Pink, Kimono Man, Suit Man, and Frilly Shirt were stuffing their faces like savages, and on the right side, Blondie, White Hair, Domeki and Yuuko had much better table manners, though this was very marginal in the cases of Blondie and White Hair.

There was an empty seat for Watanuki, his place between Domeki and Yuuko held by Mokona's bag. He looked around as he didn't see Doreiku and Harry. He saw them leaning up against the wall near the right-side door in the room. Harry was chewing on something that was revealed to be jerky and Doreiku was glaring at the diners in disgust.

"Oh, Watanuki," Yuuko greeted the boy, pausing in her meal. "Why don't you come sit down?" Watanuki was too frazzled and ignored the meal, instead cowering behind the table and pointed down the hall.

"Listen to me!" He wheezed, "There's something really strange going on in this place!" But yet again, as usual, Yuuko didn't seem to care.

"You don't say?" His boss said, uninterested. "You should try this; it's delicious." Yuuko cut into the meat that was on her plate and took a bite.

Watanuki sighed and shook his head, wandering over to where Doreiku and Harry were at. Doreiku glanced at the seer out of the corner of his eye and handed Watanuki a bag.

"Where did all this food come from?!" The part-timer whispered, "Who made it?! Who set the table?! We haven't seen anyone who lives here!"

"Don't know," Doreiku replied, "Eat that first. It'll keep you filled until lunch tomorrow."

"What is it?"

The warrior lowered his voice to a barely audible whisper, "Magical rations for dungeons and extended explorations. It's useful. You don't have to eat it if you'd rather join that lot." He inclined his head to the table where Watanuki looked around and grimaced in disgust.

Despite the fine cutlery and plates that he had observed at the table, all the silverware unique and inlayed with red stones, it was ruined by the table manners of most of the diners.

Frilly Shirt inhaled salad like a starving rabbit, Suit Man slopped his drink like a common hog, Kimono Man nibbled on a green vegetable like a rat, Plump Pink acted like a squirrel stuffing rolls away like they were acorns, and Red Jacket dropped his meat into his mouth like a mother bird did with a worm for her chicks. It was revolting.

He couldn't see what Blondie and White Hair were doing, but they were probably just as disgusting as indicated by the mess around their places. Only Yuuko and Domeki were eating with any real table manners. The seer took the ration bag from the warrior and ate what was in there with as much decorum as he could muster.

"You're not the only one who thinks there's something strange going on in this house," Doreiku said. "Harry and I encountered something strange as well. Like we were being followed."

"Well at least somebody believes me," Watanuki muttered after finishing the rations, glaring at Yuuko from a distance, though the woman couldn't see him.

"So, anyone care to guess when our illustrious host is going to show up?" Suit Man asked loudly while everyone at the table was sipping the last of their drinks.

"Who knows?" Plump Pink answered, her mouth finally devoid of food. "Though I feel like I've heard a story like this before: a mysterious man who hosts secret auctions for renowned collectors…does that seem familiar?"

"I heard that, but I thought it was nothing more than a silly myth," Blondie smiled softly. White Hair wasn't paying any attention at all, staring at the spoon in his hand.

"That's all it is!" Red Jacket, rude as ever, interrupted. "You people are ridiculous to think of it as anything else. This isn't a secret auction house."

"Whether it's true or not," Frilly Shirt continued, "There's something strange about this place." Finally, someone else agreed with the three boys. Doreiku, as Suit Man started talking, flicked his hand and whispered, "Come on." And twitching his finger to make it seem like the right door wasn't opening, he, Harry and Watanuki slipped out and listened from just down the hall after closing the door, canceling out the illusion.

Something seemed to be rolling off the warrior in waves, it was faint, only Watanuki was able to detect it. He decided it would be best to ask later.

"I get the feeling that our mystery host is watching us," Frilly Shirt finished.

As he as speaking, the door opened by itself. The three boys moved further down the hall, but close enough so that they could hear the conversation.

"Well I guess that's his idea for us to leave the room," came Suit Man's voice. The three boys, seer, wizard, and warrior hurried down the hall quietly back to the parlor room.

Once they were back in the parlor room, Watanuki asked, since they were well ahead of everyone else, "Doreiku, there's something rolling off of you. What is it?"

At this the thing vanished, though the warrior replied lowly, "My frustration and anger are boiling over. I've locked it away for now but things _will_ come to a head. Don't bring it up to Yuuko. I'm not in the mood for a lecture," he all but growled.

Watanuki gulped as the warrior said this, reminded that though Doreiku was a human, he had dragon ancestry.

"What's gotten you upset?" Watanuki inquired as they put five chairs around a table, drawing from the extras on the sides of the room.

Doreiku sighed, and hearing the collectors begin to approach, quickly explained. "Had I told anyone else that I trained with that this place reminded me of the Tomb of Horrors, we would have been out of here in the next instant and only have come back with my aunt, uncle, and grandfather in tow. I lost eight, _eight,_ good friends in that damn tomb and I'll be damned if I lose anyone else!"

He then looked Watanuki in the eye, "If you hear something snap while I'm near, get Harry and hide."

The heterochromic eyed boy nodded as the door opened and the three quickly took a seat, well, Watanuki and Harry did. Doreiku stood in the corner emotionlessly.

The collectors all filed in and took up their premeal seats again and started smoking and drinking. Yuuko and Domeki arrived, Yuuko's red heels clicking against the floor. The archer quickly started drinking tea that was on the table as Yuuko turned to Doreiku.

"You left early. Normally you would at least wait for everyone else," she remarked as she sat down.

"Wasn't hungry," Doreiku replied stiffly. Yuuko snapped her gaze to him. Doreiku had never spoken like that before and she didn't like it. Seeing that he wasn't going to offer any explanation, Yuuko began smoking her kiseru pipe.

After a while, a haze formed in the room, different to the nasty one that made Watanuki sick. A smoky haze. Watanuki was startled out of his observations by Yuuko's voice.

"Well, Watanuki?" Yuuko asked. "Notice anything?"

He looked around and spotted what was off.

"It looks like we're one short!" Frilly Shirt said startled.

"Yes, where's the white-haired gentleman?" Plump Pink inquired.

"Probably just got lost on the way here," Kimono Man put in.

"I'm going to go look for him," Frilly Shirt stated, standing up and walking over to the left side door of the parlor.

"I'll come too," Blondie agreed, standing up from her seat. "I'd like to find a restroom to powder my nose in anyway."

Time passed and Doreiku seemed to have calmed down, though there was still tension in the room which caused the warrior to move himself in between Yuuko's table and everyone else. After a long while of relative quiet, Plump Pink spoke up, again, her mouth full of food.

"It's been a while and no one's come back yet," she said, eating an entire tray of snacks by herself.

"Our host seems to know every move we make," Suit Man said, puffing on his cigar. "I wonder where he's peeking in on us from." Watanuki kept his mouth shut, remembering Doreiku's warning.

"I'd guess that someone in this room is spying for him," Red Jacket insinuated, his crossed led bouncing in impatience.

"And what are you implying?" Suit Man responded, his voice going harder than normal.

"I'm implying that it's probably you-you've been pretty relaxed this whole time," Red was looking for a fight.

"I don't care for your tone," Suit was looking for one too.

"I had hoped they would calm down," Watanuki said softly to Harry, who nodded. Unfortunately, Red somehow caught what the teen said.

"Nobody asked for your opinion, little _brat_. Come to think of it, it's a little strange to have a kid like you here!" Red snapped.

Quick as a flash, Doreiku stood, his eyes flashing dangerously.

"And that woman you're with is a little suspicious too." Suit pointed his cigar at Yuuko accusingly, who was still smoking her pipe calmly.

"Why don't you all be quiet and take a look around," Yuuko answered, turning toward the itching to fight men and letting out her breath of smoke. "We've lost another one."

They all looked around the room. Plump Pink and her snacks had vanished without a sound.

"What the-?!" Kimono Man gasped, astonished at his companion's vanishing.

"Where'd she go?" Suit queried. A folded note fell from the ceiling. This was strange because the ceiling was solid. No vents or holes to drop a note from. The note fluttered to the floor.

Red walked over and picked it up, reading it aloud.

"This concludes our evening. Rooms have been prepared for all of you to stay the night." Red's voice got confused as he read the end. Suit and Watanuki walked over to him and read the note themselves. "Please do not leave your room tonight for any reason."

"What's going on?" Suit was getting mad again. "I thought we were having an auction tonight!"

On the right side of the room, the door swung open by itself again.

Red and Suit stormed out, slamming the door as they left in anger at not understanding what was going on.

"What do you think we should do now, Yuuko?" Watanuki asked his boss.

"Our host says we're staying the night, so we stay the night." Yuuko was completely calm about this and going with the flow which scared Watanuki. "Just keep your guard up. I have a feeling that something will happen tonight. Now you go to bed. I'm just going to stay down here a bit longer."

Domeki was up and leaving the room. Watanuki rushed after the archer, especially since he noticed that Kimono Man had vanished just like Plump Pink. Doreiku and Harry stayed behind, somehow knowing that, just like at dinner, there'd be no bedroom for them. Doreiku wanted to talk to Yuuko.

She got straight to the point. "What is going on with you? You've been hostile to others, short with me and rude as well! What is going on?!"

Doreiku sat down and sighed, not looking her in the eye. "This place is too much like the Tomb of Horrors."

"Enough with that tomb!" Yuuko snapped, but Doreiku raised his hand and she stopped.

"Yuuko, had I said to anyone else that I know that this place reminded me of the Tomb of Horrors, we all would have gotten out the instant I said it. What happened in there does not bare repeating."

Here he shook his head, "That story is too horrible to repeat, even to you and you know as well as I that I would tell you anything you wanted. What happened was too horrifying. Too brutal, too terrible, too scarring." His voice grew ever softer and it began to shake with sadness.

"I will only tell you this. I lost eight very good friends in that damn tomb and nearly lost two more. I don't need to lose anyone else."

He looked her in the eye and Yuuko could see tears forming as he said, "I know that you have some sort of plan, but please, be careful. For all of us."

He looked over at Harry, who was looking pretty tired. "Harry doesn't need to lose anyone else either."

Doreiku closed his eyes and took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He felt a hand on his cheek. He opened his eyes. Yuuko had put down her pipe and was staring at him with concern.

"Alright," she said softly, "alright. Let's worry about getting to bed. Come on." She grabbed her kiseru pipe and Doreiku hoisted Harry onto his feet and the three walked out of the room to find where ever they were spending the night.

* * *

A few hours later-

Watanuki had fallen asleep pretty quickly and he was dreaming.

His dream looked like black and white static on a television screen, but without the irritating noise that usually came with it. There was a man's voice instead, calling out to him.

"Are you ready yet?" He sang.

"Not ready yet!" A small girl's voice sang back.

"Are you ready?" He called again, playing hide and seek with a child.

"Not ready yet!" She called back. His vision cleared and he was able to see a brick wall, even though the black and white static didn't clear up. Watanuki could make out the rest of the hallway as he walked down it and turned left.

He was the man, looking around for the child that was in his dream. "Are you ready?" The man called again.

"I'm ready now!" The girl called back, finally hidden. Watanuki looked down the hall, the window was open to show the single seat swing he had been creeped out by when he'd arrived.

He turned around and headed back down the hallway, finding two cords and pulled on them, uncovering trap door stairs that lead into the ceiling. He went up them, and found himself in a room filled with boxes, too many to number, and he walked around them, searching for the girl.

Instead of finding the girl, he found a tiny wooden door, the only thing in this dream with color, with the Celtic knot clover etched in it.

The part-timer opened the door and crawled inside, finding another room with a table, a window with cute curtains and a bookshelf. The right-hand curtains looked odd, bulgy, as if someone was hiding behind them.

He found the girl. He poked the curtains and they giggled.

"You found me!" The little girl revealed herself, her pink dress and brown hair were colored in his black and white dream like the door, however, Watanuki couldn't see the girl's face. Something spilled from the girl's hands. They were small, colored bean bags.

"These?" The girl asked. "These are my bean bags! I told you I was going to start collecting something remember? Well, this is what I picked to collect and I've already got this many! You should start a collection too! It's really fun! It has to be something no on else is collecting or it doesn't count!"

Watanuki opened his eyes, groggily and looked around to see if he had awoken Domeki. However, where Domeki's bed was supposed to be, there was a wall.

"Hm?" Watanuki wasn't awake enough yet to notice the bad situation. He put on his glasses and stared at the wall. "What?!" He slapped his hands on the wall. "Domeki! Hey, Domeki!" He was terrified. Was this what Doreiku meant?

He grabbed the note, hoping that the words hadn't changed, but he was wrong.

"You are safe," It now read. "The words changed! Earlier the noted had said that both of us were safe here!" His uneasiness grew, "What happened to Domeki? Where's Yuuko? And Doreiku and Harry?!"

Out of the corner of his eye, Watanuki saw a new shadow on the wall, and something moved outside the window. He looked out and saw the little girl from his dream. The girl slapped her hands on the window which caused Watanuki to reach his limit.

He screamed and pulled the curtains shut and ran for the door. Watanuki grabbed the doorknob and started to pull the door open when he remembered that the letter had said not the leave the room for any reason.

Domeki wasn't here, though and there was a creepy little girl haunting the seer outside his window! He had to find Domeki and the others! Doreiku and Yuuko hopefully would know what to do!

"Get it together, Watanuki!" He reprimanded himself, his heart thumping, tightening his grip on the handle before yanking it open. He scrambled out of the room before he could change his mind.

* * *

Alright Guys, here's Chapter three! I must put out that this and my Harry Potter Highschool DxD Crossover are my main stories. Anything else is a side project and I get around to them when I have the inspiration to do so. Enjoy and if you so desire, review. I enjoy reading most of the comments. The flames that I have gotten, I have not and so have deleted those. Chapter Four will be out in a few days I expect. So I'll see ya'll then.

Rock Drake


	4. Chapter 4 The Collector

**AN: And now the conclusion to XxxHOLIC: A Midsummer Night's Dream.**

 **Chapter 4: The Collector**

Watanuki let the door shut behind him, finding himself outside in a quiet rice field without the rice and bright stars, faraway mountains and a few willow trees in front of him. The forest was some way off and the sound of crickets echoed through the night, calming him somewhat.

Surprisingly, he was completely dressed in his school uniform and jacket which he didn't put on before leaving the room.

He stepped back into the field and looked back, now realizing that someone actually painted the mountains onto the walls of the enormous room, a rather cool optical illusion had it been under different circumstances. The boy glanced up at the moon and found the moon rabbit making rice cakes on its mortar. He looked in the other direction and found Saturn and Mars hanging in the other corner.

He started walking down the path in front of him, passing between a few ponds and walking past the willow trees. The sounds of crickets and frogs filled the air. The moon rabbit started to move, pounding rice far above his head as he gazed at the stars admiring the constellations that were drawn as the stars and outlined into the shapes they represented.

Cygnus' cross was connected, but the outline showed the swan, flying in the stars. There was Sagittarius, Scorpio, Crux, Gemini, Capricorn and others that Watanuki didn't recognize, but it didn't matter. He had found a door. The boy went through to a different room.

This room made him feel incredibly small. It was a replica of the parlor room, but all the furniture seemed to be made for giants. As he walked underneath the table, he knew that time was passing even as he moved into the next room.

The next room appeared to be outside again, with only one path and it was surrounded by hundreds of Jizo statues, all covered in moss and staring at the seer as he passed them. He could hear chanting too, indiscernible words floating around his head. The room after that was a humongous sea of water and innumerable rowboats.

Some were wrecked and sinking, while others were in good condition. This room was lit only by a distant magenta light that glowed around a rickety shanty that sat by the pier he was walking on. The room after was filled with giant drinking birds. There were even some on the ceiling.

He somehow remembered what he had been worried about earlier and started calling for his wayward friend.

"Domeki!" He hollered, putting his hand up to cup his mouth. "Where are you? This isn't funny!" He kept calling through each room he entered, looking high and low for his missing friend. That is, until his path was halted. He'd entered a room lit by street lamps with hundreds of rooms in it, all spiraling up high into the darkness of the mansion.

The stairs leading up alternated with each door, switching from red stone to blue-black every other one. Where Watanuki was standing at the bottom, there was a structure that looked like something a cathedral would have.

There were Victorian people standing on two spinning platforms, one atop the other. Well, they weren't people, but instead life-sized statues made to look like people. Every single one of them were in different poses. Some were dancing, others singing, a few were laughing, but none looked very happy, not even those that were smiling.

"There's something really strange about this place," the seer whispered to himself, looking at the statues. "Something very strange." He tore his eyes away from the statues and looked at the first door on the huge spiral staircase. It was a blue-black stone alcove with an odd stone place in the floor in front of the door.

On the grey stone, someone had etched two marks. They looked like a question mark and its y-axis reflection without the dot. Watanuki suspected a trap and so creeped around it just incase something nasty activated. He was standing in front of the door now, with only one question one his mind.

"What's in there?" He asked, grabbing the knob and opening the door. The door opened with a creak and he peeked in.

The room was small widthwise, but extended farther back than the seer a\had thought. However, the interesting bit was what was inside. Lining the walls, floor and ceiling were glass cases held in place by bars and supports and inside the softly lit cases were antennae.

"It looks like a butterfly collection!" he exclaimed, walking up to get a closer look. "Sort of." Instead of beautiful wings, whoever had collected these specimens had ripped the bodies apart and kept the heads.

He gulped, creeped out that someone would collect thousands of rare insects just for their heads and antennae. Watanuki wanted to get out of here, that feeling of being watched crawling up his spine again. He took a step back, his hands shaking, ready to run when something grabbed his shoulder. He did the understandable thing and screamed.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" He screamed out as he whirled away from whatever had touched him at a high speed. But instead of a spirit, it was Domeki.

"Oh…it's you, Watanuki," the archer stated sarcastically. Watanuki sank to the floor, relieved.

"Yes, it's me!" He leapt to his feet and growled at his friend. "I've been wandering around this stupid place all night looking for you and Yuuko!"

"You were worried about us?" Domeki asked giving the boy a blank look.

"I was a little freaked out," he said. "I just went to sleep and when I woke up you were gone. Plus, the whole room had been changed around, so I started wandering around looking for you and I just ended up here. Also, Doreiku's warning to Harry has been in my mind all night."

"So did I. And I left my room to look for you," Domeki agreed. "It's strange, but I have a feeling that we were led here somehow. Didn't Doreiku also call Harry a bit of a trouble magnet?"

Watanuki nodded, "Yeah, I think we should find Yuuko and those two. Yuuko will at least know what to do and Doreiku as we've seen is someone that not even spirits would want to mess with if their intelligent." They left the butterfly antennae room.

"Let's go."

There was no other way out of the room than the way they'd came, so Watanuki and Domeki went into the next room. It was in a red stone alcove and the stone on the floor had five horizontal lines with little X's on them. They went inside and it was a room full of barbed wires, some strung out on fences, and others coiled up.

"Fences?" The seer asked to no one.

"Barbwire barricades," Domeki answered.

"Weirder and weirder," Watanuki said, looking around. "First a room full of butterfly antennae and now a barbed wire fence collection? What's next?" he asked in trepidation.

The next stone was etched with an image of a belt or a collar that was buckled, and inside that purple lit room were dog collars of all shapes and sizes hanging on the walls and ceiling. Most of them had spikes or studs, but some were plain and just had buckles.

"Must be the collar room," Watanuki noted.

"What do you think, Watanuki?" Domeki asked, pointing to a collar with diamonds on it. "Get that for Yuuko?"

"If the situation was better, that would be funny. Until we gave it to her at least," Watanuki answered. Both boys winced. Yuuko was very powerful.

The next collection room was full of birdcages lit by warm yellow lights. Some were very simple, others extremely ornate. The room after that was hardly lit at all and contained different kinds of hunting traps that looked extremely menacing in the dark.

The collection room after that was full of carnivorous plants and Watanuki did not want to step too far inside this one. There were rooms of canes, rocks that looked like faces, chains, metronomes, test tube sets, Japanese theater and festival masks, saws and knives, pot lids, coat hooks, traffic lights… and the rooms extended up what seemed like for eternity and they still hadn't found an exit.

The next collection room was full of spoons, all lining the walls and ceiling, lit by a yellow light that accented the gold walls. Watanuki had never seen this collection before, but something was familiar.

"Spoons?" He mused, looking at the wall. Domeki wandered further into the room.

The seer swept his eyes over a section of wall, his eye catching on one in particular. Had he not been standing in that exact spot, he would have missed it, but this silver spoon stuck out. With a red jewel on a fat handle and a three-flower design, it was familiar. "Hey…wait…I know this one." He thought back and remembered, it was from the dinner he had not eaten. "It's from dinner earlier."

"Oi, Watanuki. Come here," Domeki called. The boy wandered over and gaped at the painting hanging there. It was White Hair!

"Hey! That looks like him!" Watanuki pointed at the painting, his raised hand trembling. "The man who disappeared after dinner. Why would there be a picture of him hanging up in here?" He never got his answer for Red and Suit (without the suit but in a yukata) showed up behind him and started talking.

"Looks like you two couldn't sleep any better than we could, huh?" Suit asked, rubbing one of his shoulders. Watanuki and Domeki both turned around. "Those beds are uncomfortable, aren't they?"

"Ha!" Red scoffed. "You were just trying to find our host before anyone else did so you could suck up to him."

"Shut up, you little rat!" Suit spun on Red. "I could say the same thing about you anyway!"

"You're just all worked up because I've got you figured out!" Red snapped.

"This really isn't the best time to argue!" Watanuki interrupted. "Don't you realize that this guy has us trapped in here?"

"Yeah, so what if he does?" Suit replied, completely uncaring.

"I'll complete my collection if it means staying here the rest of my life!" Red remarked, his voice becoming insane, his face stretching into a strained smile with wide eyes. He started walking out, leaving everyone else behind.

"I'm not going to let anyone out do me!" Suit vowed, his own face becoming a little crazy as he followed Red out the door.

"Man, those two are weird," Watanuki sighed.

"You know, in this place," Domeki stared to say, "I think we're considered the weird ones."

"Then let's go!" Watanuki turned to his archer friend, "We just need to find Yuuko and get out of here! Doreiku and Harry as well!"

Just then, a bell tolled outside the room. Watanuki and Domeki ran to the door and looked down, finding that the bell was sounding from far below them.

The bell was signaling something that was not the hour…it was forbidding and ominous to the seer, but he found himself running down the spiral room's stairs with Domeki. Red and Suit were running to catch up with them as they had run up several spirals to try and outdo each other.

As they ran, the strange structure with the statues began to move, the two platforms spinning in time to the music it started to play. It acted like a giant music box! Domeki reached the last two rooms or so before the bottom floor and jumped off the side. Watanuki followed, leaving the two crazy collectors behind a bit.

The archer and the seer ran to the front of the giant music box and watched as the laughing people statues turned and rotated. Red and Suit ran down the last few stairs as the music box slowed and stopped. The platforms came to a rest on a news boy. As the music ended, the bottom of the statue's satchel fell open and four numbered pieces of paper fell out onto the floor.

"Move it!" Red rudely pushed Domeki out of the way to get to the notes.

"Let me see those!" Suit did the exact same thing with Watanuki, kneeling down to grab two notes before Red could take them all. Both boys didn't say anything, now knowing why Doreiku hadn't liked these two from the get go. "By leaving the rooms assigned to you, you have all broken…the rules…' What the-?" He started to read. "As punishment, I have devised a game in which all of you shall participate."

"Hide and seek," Red continued, reading the two notes he had aloud. "'If you find me within ten minutes that means you win. If you don't find me you lose. Win and we give you what you came here for, lose and you'll have to play another game. Let's begin.' What going on?!"

The sound of fingers snapping dunked the four of them in darkness, the street lamps shutting off as well. Watanuki's heart sunk. They couldn't lose…not here! Losing meant anything in a place like this, even death!

The room was dark above them and beyond where they were standing, seemingly endless, the only light was right under their feet and that wasn't near enough to illuminate the room. There was a strange rumbling sound above them too, like a mechanism turning and the parts were making clicking and rolling noises. Trapped in this new and dangerous room, Suit and Red started looking around for an exit by instinct, and Watanuki looked as well… only he looked up.

Messing with our heads-!" Red hissed, looking for an escape. "Screw this! I'm getting out of here!"

"The ceiling-!" Watanuki yelled as the entire thing came low enough to be lit up. It was going to crush them all flat if they didn't get out!

"What is this?! What do we do?!" Suit growled out, stomping like a little child. Then the entire room lit up dimly, revealing a full-size door on one side. Red and Suit ran to it, both trying to pull open the now seemingly locked door, arguing and shoving and kicking the entire time they did it. With the full-size door being occupied by two people Watanuki never wanted to see again or mess with, they were stuck. Those two men were crazy enough to hurt a bystander.

Domeki was plenty observant enough though and had found another door. Child-sized.

"Watanuki," the archer called. The seer flipped around and ran at him when he saw the new exit. They knelt down and looked at the grimy door. Watanuki wiped away the dust and found the same Celtic knot that was on the gate and on the key to the house and in his dream.

"I know this pattern! I saw it in my dream!" He exclaimed. "I know! We need Yuuko's key!" He frisked his pockets. "Now…. if only we had it…. but that would be too convenient wouldn't it?" _With my luck, Yuuko's still got the key and we're now dead._ "Oh, here it is!" He yanked the key out of his pocket and put it in the lock and turned it.

"Did she know this would happen?!" Watanuki asked. It didn't budge. "It won't open!"

"Give it here," Domeki took the key. Watanuki glanced back at the other two. They were still struggling with the door, which was now blocked by the lowering ceiling. The key turned and the small door opened just as the ceiling started to press on it. "Done, hurry," Domeki ordered, crawling through.

Watanuki yanked the key out as the ceiling bent and splintered the door. He wasted precious second protecting himself. The ceiling was now brushing his hair, ready to crush him, but he threw himself through, the sounds of the other two screaming suddenly getting cut of behind him as the ceiling hit the floor with a crash.

Both boys looked at the blocked doorway, barely having escaped death by crushing and the game had just started! Watanuki looked around the new room. This place looked like the attic from his dream.

The bookshelf was full of books and knick-knacks and stuffed animals. Another was filled with more books and a few bottles of wine, saké and a bottle of old rum. The single window with the curtains that the little girl had hid behind were there as well, even the stacked table and chairs, all in color.

"This place was in my dream too!" He breathed out, as he got over his terror, and walked towards the window.

"Looks like this place has been gathering dust for decades," Domeki remarked, standing up and running his fingers across a shelf and then blowing a cloud of dust off of his hands. Watanuki found a small easel in the corner that seemed to be holding a painting.

He pulled of the cloth and stared at the little brunette girl in the pink dress, depicted, sitting on that swing outside the mansion. She was even holding her bean bags.

"It's that girl!" He gasped. Domeki looked at the painting.

"Do you know her or something?"

"I've seen her a couple of times since we've been here. I bet you that she's the one that's got us locked up in this mansion!" Watanuki went to the window and opened it with a sickening creak. "We need to hurry! We don't have much time! We have to find the girl and get Yuuko and the others back from her and then get out of here and never come back! Now let's get going!"

He leapt out of the window into a sewer-like hallway done in brick and Domeki followed, running just a step behind.

"How much time is left?" Watanuki inquired.

"Don't know," Domeki answered. Then a bell tolled and writing appeared on the floor in front of them.

Four minutes left, it read.

"I said I had a bad feeling about this place!" Watanuki growled. "But did anyone listen to me besides Doreiku? No! There is no way that we're going to find them in four minutes in this huge mansion!"

They ran through that Paris catacomb room, then the cathedral catwalk room, then the hallway with the bamboo stalks on one side and the paneled doors on the other. More writing appeared on the paper windows, moving with the two boys as the bell sounded again.

Three minutes left, it read.

"So, are we running to anywhere in particular now?" Domeki asked, keeping pace with the seer.

"Nope," he replied. "All I know is that we can't stop!" They then were running through a grey stone hallway with red flowers in little alcoves, opening the dark wood doors when they ran across them. The next door opened into a dimly lit hallway with wood floors and white walls and more writing appeared along with a tolling bell.

Two minutes left, it said.

"Aw, damnit!" Watanuki hollered.

"A dead end," Domeki called out as the hallway stopped. But Watanuki saw a tiny little opening that they could crawl through. They got through it, squeezing out and standing up in a room with a crooked catwalk that rested floors and floors above the bottom level, the Japanese doors lit up.

"Wait, something's strange here…. this place looks familiar!" Watanuki recalled, then the next room was the first hallway they'd ever walked through. "We're right back where we started!" He cried in dismay, turning around, Domeki following.

The next room was the one with the shrine and the long stairs down into the cathedral catwalk that they'd been through. The rain had stopped and the night sky above them was filled with starts, the sutras on the walls illuminated by the light.

"We're running in circles here!" Watanuki skidded to a halt, throwing his hands up in defeat and trying to catch his breath. Domeki stopped as well. "So, what do we do now?!" The bell tolled again, writing appearing on the poles holding the walls up.

One-minute left, it read.

"Damnit!" Watanuki hissed again, looking around at all the signs. When he turned toward Domeki, he found himself staring into the dead eyes of the little spirit girl. The spirit grabbed onto Watanuki's shoulders, her mouth moving as if trying to say something. Watanuki screamed in terror.

"What is it? Watanuki?" Domeki asked, starting to panic, "What's wrong?"

Watanuki kept screaming as the spirit pushed him over the edge of the rail, his body dangling upside down as Domeki reached out and caught his foot, trying to pull the seer up before he fell to his death. The rail broke and both boys went tumbling over the side into the black abyss.

The falling stopped after a while and both boys woke up. They weren't splattered and were lying on a brick floor with the sound of waves echoing. Both boys picked themselves up and stared at the door in front of them. It was the only one and looked like the others in the spiral room and it even had its own floor stone.

But unlike the other rooms, this door looked ancient and the wall it was set into had cracking paint. The two walked over to the floor stone. This one was etched with the outline of a person and inside its chest was a little red heart. Whatever it meant, it was a certainty that they had to go through this door, as there were no other exits.

Watanuki reached out and opened the door, walking into what had to be the final room. Whatever happened in here felt like it was going to be the very last trick. The door shut behind them as soon as Domeki stepped through.

The room was dimly lit with the only light illuminating a chair in the center of the room, if you could call it a "center." In reality, the room was shaped like a cross, the walls and ceiling littered with octagonal shapes that were frames of all sizes, and the chair was where the four halls met. And there was a person in that chair.

"So…" A deep voice echoed through the room, "You managed to find me."

"And who exactly are you?!" Watanuki yelled, his patience finally snapping. The man sitting in the chair had white-ash colored hair from what he could see in the light, the ends brushing past his white shirt collar and onto the blue part of his shirt. His legs were crossed and sticking out diagonally from behind the chair, clad in white slacks and socks.

"Uh, who are you talking to?" Domeki asked, seeing only an empty chair when Watanuki was shouting at something out of the ordinary.

"Wait a minute!" It dawned on the seer, "If I'm the only one who can see you, then that means you're-!"

"It is truly amazing the number of things people come to possess during their relatively short lives." The spirit said, ignoring everything that Watanuki had just said. "Of course, there are those among us who amass a great deal of one particular thing."

"I assume that you're talking about those people we call 'collectors.'" A feminine voice said from behind Watanuki and Domeki. The pair turned and found Yuuko standing behind them, gaudy jewelry and all. Doreiku and Harry flanked her on either side and Doreiku looked especially pissed off.

"And the rat shows himself," the silver-eyed teen growled, drawing a scimitar.

"Yuuko! You're alright!" Watanuki shouted with glee, a genuine smile on his face as he found his boss and erstwhile teacher safe and sound.

"I'll have you know that you've been difficult to keep track of. And I wasn't aware that there were two more in your group either." The man said, his eyes sliding over to study Yuuko. Watanuki was too busy being relieved to care about anything he said, although it did confirm his earlier suspicion of being watched and dragged along in the mansion.

"Watanuki here can detect spirits, but no spirit can approach or harm Domeki. And Doreiku and Harry have their own abilities that keep them safe," Yuuko commented as she walked up to two of her charges, "They make a rather effective tool against you, like a blinder or diversion, don't you think?"

"I see it now," the man admitted.

"So," Yuuko went on, "What kind of penalty game do you have planned for us?"  
"Allow me to show you…my private collection," the spirit man said ominously, "No one else has ever seen it before." The empty frames on the walls lit up, all holding pictures of people – all ages, genders, and sizes – some smug, some bored looking and some smiling like their photo had been taken for the school yearbook.

"What is this!" Watanuki gasped, looking around at all the faces of people he'd never met before. Except one, and conveniently it was right in front of him again.

"If you look closely, you'll recognize one of the faces," the spirit prompted. And that was the face Watanuki had found familiar. It was White Hair again, and he was nestled between pictures of another man and a woman. "The spoon collector from this evening was chosen to be placed here."

"What?!" Watanuki snapped his head towards the triumphant looking man. Doreiku and Harry both readied their respective weapons. Watanuki didn't know what Harry could do yet, so he was rather doubtful about the young teen's fighting abilities.

"Tonight was a competition," the spirit explained. "I had to determine which of you would be entering my collection."

"That's why you invited all the collectors to your mansion," Yuuko remarked, finally understanding. She crossed her arms as she continued to unravel their host's intentions. "Not to complete their collections, but to add to your own."

"I studied them all evening to assess their quality," the man continued. "Unfortunately, only one was worthy to enter into my grand collection."

"And what happened to the ones you didn't choose!?" Watanuki snarled, pissed that this spirit had toyed with them all evening, picked the one person he liked and probably done away with all the others that didn't meet his standards.

"You're going to have a very unpleasant meeting with someone very powerful by the time I'm done with you, spirit," Doreiku barked out. His aura was released, it was much stronger now and told everyone in it that here was a dragon, and it was pissed.

The spirit ignored him. "They all have a lovely new home inside one of my favorite paintings," The man sighed. It clicked inside the minds of Harry, Watanuki and Domeki. They'd seen that painting, the one that seemed to be a party at the mansion but only held angry or despondent people in it.

"Do you mean the one in the drawing room?!" Watanuki asked.

"You'll find that now it has six more inhabitants than it did earlier," the spirit continued. "Collectors have an unusual attachment to some specific sort of thing – that attachment is something that we describe with the suffix '-holic.' Can you imagine for a moment if one collected souls instead of things?"

"So, what you have here is a collection of collectors," Yuuko finished up. "You became fascinated by their obsession with things and instead of collecting objects, you collected them. Is it enough now? Are you satisfied with these souls or will there be more?" To anyone else, Yuuko sounded calm as she said this, but Watanuki could tell Yuuko was disgusted and irritated. She abhorred killing.

"My collection is incomplete," the spirit answered, acknowledging the outcome of Yuuko's question. "You see…I am still missing the most important piece of all." That didn't sound good to anyone. "I'm afraid that I'll be needing your soul…witch." This last word was hissed, the frustration of keeping track of and capturing Yuuko showing through.

"I'm flattered that you think so highly of me. Unfortunately, I don't collect anything so I wouldn't fit in," Yuuko replied calmly, although somewhat amused.

"On the contrary, as part of your business, you collect people's most prize possessions every day," the man countered. "If that doesn't make one the ultimate collector, then I really couldn't say what does."

"While I've enjoyed your hospitality thus far, I'll have to decline," Yuuko turned down the proposal politely. "Besides, you're the one who's really trapped here." The Dimensional Witch started walking towards the man, intent on doing something, her heels clicking on the floor. At that moment, the man turned around in his swivel chair and held up his hand, snapping his fingers.

The walls exploded, shattering the frames and glass into a million pieces, and sending up clouds of smoke into the air. Watanuki ducked and then saw that the room was gone, replaced by an endless white space and a horde of angry spirits snaking their way towards them.

Yuuko dodged the first spirits and they whirled around to snap at her again. She side stepped and the fangs of the snake-like spirit sank into the floor, destroying the ground where it hit.

"Domeki!" Watanuki shouted to the archer over the howling spirits, "We have to protect Yuuko!"

Unknown to the quintet, the collections housed in the mansion were headed their way. Watanuki got smacked in the face by a male kokeshi doll, knocking him to the ground and Domeki pushed one away from his face and had to brace another against his arm as they surrounded him. Temporarily at least. That was when Harry came into play.

The young wizard snapped his wand out with a shout in Latin, pointing the magical item at the horde of dolls. The floor exploded in a cloud of dust sending the dolls flying in all directions. Watanuki was currently dealing with a drinking bird.

The bird brought its beak down on the spot where he was laying. He somersaulted backwards just in time, the beak of the bird punching a hole in the ground where his pelvis had been seconds before. He screamed as the bird came after him again, punching holes in the ground where his body parts were. He twisted and leapt and screamed again as the bird's neck became flexible and started trying to wrap around him.

The seer twisted and bent into all sorts of shapes to save himself, frustrating the bird. The room was now shaking, starting to fall apart more and more as more collections pushed through the ground to attack them. The man in the chair seemed unaffected though, just smiling as the chaos unfolded around him.

Yuuko was still advancing on him though, the spirits he sent at her missing every time, blowing her hair this way and that but never touching her, she put a hand up and pulled a spirit away from her face. She just brushed some of her wind caught locks behind her ear as if a nice summer breeze had disturbed her and not hissing spirits. The ceiling of the room crumbled around them, huge chunks of rock crashing to the floor but Yuuko and the man just faced each other.

The latter finally got up out of his chair and stood. The drinking bird was still coming after Watanuki but he picked up a chunk of what used to be ceiling and held it up like a shield and the bird embedded its beak into it, now stuck as it tried to free itself. Watanuki smiled in triumph, but the victory didn't last as the bird whipped its head around and dislodge the debris, smacking it into the seer's face and came after him again.

"GAH!" He shouted, both in pain and in fear. The bird dropped as a flash of steel hit it. The bird did not get up again. Doreiku's scimitar had ended that fight.

Domeki and Harry were only doing a little better as the giant kokeshi dolls continued their assault. They kept coming at the archer no matter how many he fended off and Harry kept on trying to blast them. They slowly whittled them down as Doreiku dealt with the stragglers. Then their success ended as an army of the creepy stone statues Watanuki had been scared by marched by them, pushing them back even as the two tried to stop them.

The statues that weren't dealing with Domeki and Harry were with Watanuki, hoisting the boy up in their arms and carrying him off as he tried to jump out of their hold.

"Stop! Hey! I said quit it!" He hollered, pushing at them, but they were unaffected and started walking towards a huge gaping chasm that had just broken off from the floor. "What are you doing! Let me go! Let me go! Put me down!" he wailed.

The statues put his arms and legs into the arms of four others, one for each limb, and the rest started pushing his torso like a swing, turning the entire group so that when they let go, he would go flying into the chasm and die. They pushed him once, twice, three times and Watanuki felt their grip slacken, ready to toss him.

He screamed as the black chasm loomed below him. Suddenly a giant kokeshi doll rolled into the statues, knocking them over like bowling pins, which was fortunate for him. What was not fortunate was that he was knocked out over the hole anyway.

"No!" He shrieked, reaching out for the ledge even as he fell. His hand caught, but his grip started to slip. He held on tighter when the worst thing happened: the wall crumbled under his grip. He started to fall, his scream increasing in volume until it was cut off by a lurch in his fall. Watanuki looked up and found Domeki hanging onto his wrist.

The archer hauled him up and Watanuki found Harry bracing his monotoned friend as Doreiku guarded them from the rear.

The warrior nodded and darted off to help Yuuko. She was still advancing on the man, who kept sending spirits at her.

Another problem presented itself. A ball rolled towards them and it grew the closer it got. It was the moon from the rice field and the rabbit emerged from its surface, mallet and all, ready to pound them all into dust. It came at Watanuki first, raising its mallet above its head and bringing it crashing down.

Thanks to Watanuki's agility and a timely blast from Harry, who was looking rather spent, the mallet missed, creating a huge crater where Watanuki's ass used to be. The rabbit turned and glared at him as he sprung to his feet screaming. The rabbit swung its mallet horizontally next, barely missing the ducking Domeki before bringing the mallet straight down, missing the archer again as he jumped out of the way.

The mallet came at Watanuki again and he rolled to the ground, feeling the rush of air as the hammer missed again. Another blast from Harry knocked the rabbit down, but it rolled to its feet, swinging at Domeki twice and then went after Harry. Harry was a lot quicker than the rabbit had expected and easily dodged.

Watanuki leapt up and kicked it to distract it, but now it was coming after him again! He screamed and ran away, barely jumping away as the mallet skimmed past his back.

"Noooooo!" He yelled. Having made a perfect distraction, Domeki and Harry used this opportunity to grab the huge moon that the rabbit had come it and pushed the ball with all their might. This sent it rolling towards the creature. Watanuki had tripped and fallen to the ground, crawling back on his elbows as the rabbit advanced on him threateningly, its mallet scraping the ground.

"Watanuki! Heads up!" Domeki shouted and Harry shouted, "Move!" This caught the seer's attention. The rabbit's too, but the creature was too slow and the moon rolled over him and out of sight as Watanuki barely curled himself away. He scrambled to his feet and ran over to them, feeling safer if he had people watching his back. Over the sounds of the collapsing room, the boy heard Yuuko speaking, to the man who was looking increasingly frustrated and unstable that he couldn't hit or capture the woman advancing on him.

"You may haunt the mansion, but in reality, the mansion now possesses you," Yuuko's voice took on that mysterious, echo-y quality that it did sometimes, her eyebrows furrowed. Watanuki now knew what this was: this was Yuuko bringing her witchcraft to bear. She continued on, "It doesn't matter how many people's souls you collect, even adding my soul to your collection won't change anything. You're as damned as those people in the painting. When I think about that, I almost feel sorry for you, but not quite."

The man's expression took on a murderous but at the same time, scared quality as he unleashed anther barrage of spirits on the woman, completely clouding out her form even as she tripped a little and caught herself. Doreiku wasn't far behind and was catching up rapidly.

The cloud of spirits hid Yuuko for a moment, before she burst through, running at the spirit, determination in her eyes. Yuuko wasn't scared, but the spirit was, backing away fearfully until he himself tripped, falling to the ground.

"And now it's time for this game to be over!" Yuuko said harshly, holding up her gloved hand as if to attack. As she reached the spirit, a bright, shining circle appeared on the floor, enveloping her in a pillar of light and holding her frozen in place. Doreiku skidded to a halt, his eyes wide. Yuuko had crossed some kind of seal on the floor, the eye of the seal staring up at her ruefully.

"You fell for it," the spirit chuckled, Yuuko's body vanished along with the circle, but a line of portraits appeared behind the spirit, portraits of some of the collectors he'd gathered, including his newest one. Yuuko was painted on a blue background, hand held up like it had been when she was frozen, hanging next to the spoon collector on the insubstantial wall.

"Oh no! It's Yuuko!" Watanuki yelled. He, Domeki and Harry were surrounded by the statues and kokeshi dolls again, but they stopped moving, their job done now that their master had what he wanted. The white room disappeared, replaced by shifting walls of smoke, the only thing visible being the portraits.

"I've finally captured you," the spirit said, standing in front of Yuuko's picture. "You don't think I'll be satisfied? We'll see about that."

"You let her go!" Watanuki screamed, running at the spirit who'd trapped his friend and employer. A giant flower appeared in front of him as he neared the man, smacking him back and sending him tumbling to the floor.

"Oh, I almost forgot. I have to get rid of you miserable brats as well." The man looked behind him and stared the three boys down with a sickly smile. He started walking towards them, his face holding all sorts of painful promises at causing him so much trouble when he felt something coming at him. The spirit stopped, just in time too, as Doreiku sent a blade of energy screaming in between the spirit and the three. The warrior glared, "You may have captured the witch, but you left yourself open. Are you ready to meet your maker?"

The spirit turned to face the warrior and activated another seal. Doreiku hadn't survived the Tomb of Horrors and Acererak, who was an actual lich, to be taken down so easily. He darted out of the way, swinging his blade down as he did and disabled the seal entirely. The spirit advanced again towards the three trapped boys, dodging attacks from Doreiku all the while.

"I found what I was looking for," Yuuko's voice came from somewhere in the room, stopping the spirit in his tracks. The Yuuko in the painting moved, her hand coming down as she looked out into the room. "I had to get inside your mind in order to find your weakness. When you captured me, I saw what Watanuki had already found." She held up the painting of the little girl in the pink dress. "You remember now, don't you?" Yuuko asked. " _This_ is what you've been looking for all these years. This is what you truly want."

The spirit walked back to Yuuko as Doreiku sheathed his scimitar, placing his hands on her painting and then dropping his head. His hands slipped through the surface and came around to hold the painting of the girl, pulling it out into reality. He stared at it for a moment before crossing his arms behind the picture, hugging it and beginning to cry as the walls and ceiling started to crumble again.

Outside, the mansion started to crumble, the patchwork architecture dissolving and crashing to the ground, sending up a large cloud of dust, leaving behind a much smaller, but no less grand house in its wake, surrounded by a huge, grass covered yard. The spirit's malicious intent was gone, leaving behind a peaceful sense of normalcy and a bright morning. Watanuki, Domeki, Harry and Doreiku were outside, staring up at the sky and the trees of the mountains surrounding them, the backside of the mansion in front of them.

"The mansion's changed!" Watanuki exclaimed. The spirit man was kneeling on the ground by the left back corner of the house, still holding the painting. Watanuki watched him like a hawk. While doing so, he saw something out of the corner of his eye and whipped his head around, seeing Yuuko standing at the other corner.

"You got out!" he shouted, leaping to his feet and running over to the woman. "Yuuko! Are you alright?!" he rounded the corner and saw an old woman in a wheelchair next to Yuuko. "Huh? Who's this old lady?"

"I wish I knew how to thank you for what you've done," the old lady started. She looked familiar somehow, her faded brown hair cut short, her soft blue eyes striking a cord with the raven-haired seer. She was wearing a yellow dress with a white ruffled collar and the huge pink bow that also seemed familiar, but he couldn't place it. "You have granted my only wish." She bowed to Yuuko respectfully.

"I have to warn you, he's still a little lost inside himself," Yuuko said, pulling out the golden key the young lady had given her back at the shop. "Here, I thought you'd might like to have this back." The old lady looked at it and then shook her head.

"No, thank you. I don't think I'll be needing it now," she said. Yuuko smiled at her. The old lady turned her wheelchair to the right and started to roll herself over to the man kneeling in the grass. When she reached him, she stopped. "Excuse me, young man…do you remember who I am?"

The man gazed up at the woman before his eyes widened, filling with tears. To everyone else, she was an old woman, but to him, she was still a young girl wearing her favorite pink dress, her brown hair long like she used to have it. They had said goodbye at this very mansion, and he'd promised her that he'd make a collection that no one else had ever had, prompting her to keep expanding her bean bag collection.

It had been a sorrowful parting as she valiantly tried not to cry. She'd promised to come back one day when she was all grown up, as long as he'd promised to watch over the house and in return that they'd meet again someday.

"I've missed you," he said, throwing his head into her lap, not trying to hold back his tears. She stroked his head softly.

"I can't tell you how much I've missed you. I'm sorry I stayed away so long," she apologized. "I bought back the house like I said I would but the key wouldn't work and I couldn't get back inside."

"Somewhere along the line, I forgot the reason behind my collection…I was keeping it for you to see, so that you'd know that I'd kept my promise…I became lost in it. I'm so sorry."

"I think it's finally time to let go of your collection," the old lady said, "It's been long enough."

"You're right," he nodded.

"I can't believe you remember me after all these years, so much has changed. Look at me, I'm an old woman and you've stayed the same."

"To me, you haven't changed at all," he replied, looking up, still seeing the smiling face of the young girl he used to know. "I still see you as you were the day you left." The little girl smiled at him.

"I'm home."

"Welcome back," he replied.

"We can be together forever, right?"

"Yes. You can stay forever." The door to the mansion opened behind them, bathing the pair in white light before they walked inside, hand in hand, the door shutting behind them. Yuuko, Harry, Domeki and Watanuki were smiling know as Doreiku joined them.

Then something caught their attention. The warrior began to shine brightly and aethereal silver feathered wings unfurled from his back, as he closed his eyes and slowly nodded. A spiraling stream of magic flowed out of him and onto the mansion, the wings dissolving into it. He turned and began walking off of the property, offering no explanation to those that followed.

No explanation, except to Yuuko, when she asked him. Doreiku slowed his paced so that the other three boys would walk ahead for a bit.

"It was a gift," he said in reply to the witch's question, "A duty that I am bound to by the Great One until after my trials. Had that spirit not changed when you showed him that painting, I was going to kill him for taking the souls of others. Only those with the given right over death, such as Null and obviously the Great One are allowed to take souls like that and only at their proper time."

"So, you were going to end the spirit just like that?" Yuuko asked.

"Yes, even though you would not like it. But now they'll have many more years together and when their time finally does come, it will be peaceful and they'll go together."

Yuuko shook her head and smiled.

"Mom," Doreiku said, catching her attention. "I'm sorry for my behavior in the last day. I-." Yuuko placed a slender finger on his lips.

"There is no need. You were giving me a warning that I should have heeded. I should have explained to all of you what I was doing. I should be the one apologizing."

The teen smiled and just embraced Yuuko, surprising the witch, her red eyes widening. She then hugged him with one arm and they eventually caught up with the others, who were waiting for them at the road.

* * *

They found an inn on the other side of the lake, across from where the mansion sat, because Yuuko decided that they should all get some relaxation time after their adventure. Watanuki agreed with her, but Yuuko being Yuuko almost got them two rooms with a kitchen, but luckily Doreiku quickly paid enough while the two were arguing for them to have a set up with five rooms and a kitchen as the inn was surprisingly empty for the summertime. One of the rooms was a sitting area that overlooked the lake. Doreiku had a habit of sleeping outside when the weather was nice.

Yuuko was the first to take a bath, (even though there were four bathrooms, the boys still had to unpack and take care of Harry whom in the fight had pushed himself almost to magical exhaustion), and Doreiku wasn't even sweaty at all, though he did jump in the lake on their way over as Mokona had been fooling around and fallen in.

When the witch emerged with her newly washed hair and body clad in a pink yukata, she took a seat by the open window and fanned herself on the ledge, leaning against the door. Doreiku and Harry were on the rooftop, enjoying the sun, the warrior quietly teaching Harry a song he had heard during his training and eavesdropping on Yuuko and Watanuki who finished his own bath.

"Too much saké," Mokona groaned, reappearing from where ever he had been, drunk as a skunk, flopping down by the window with Yuuko.

Watanuki came out of the bathroom in a blue yukata, a towel around his neck. He sat down at a small table with some tea. He looked at the black puffball and shook his head.

He gazed out the window at the mansion, just like Yuuko was. "What do you think will become of the mansion now that it's not haunted anymore?" He asked.

"The old woman has decided to turn it into a museum," Yuuko answered. "She's going to be its curator." A strange noise came from above them and they heard muffled thumps. Doreiku entered the room not long afterwards and leaned up against the wall.

Watanuki continued to look out the window.

"Will she be able to handle it all by herself?"

"Don't worry. The collectors that were freed offered to help her, they even wanted to donate to the museum."

Doreiku chuckled, "And they learned a lesson about greed as well in their misadventure." Yuuko and Watanuki turned to the warrior, who explained, "The man in the suit was arrested not even an hour ago. Turns out that some of the items in his collection were…illegally acquired. Red Jacket is also facing an investigation. Something having to do with assault."

Yuuko and Watanuki shook their heads as Doreiku left, catching sight of Domeki and wanting to let him know.

"I guess the mansion won't be closed up anymore, will it?" Watanuki continued, leaning back in his chair. "Still, I had no idea that the girl at the mansion, and the young lady who came to your shop, were really spirit projections of that old lady."

Yuuko answered him, "There was a moment there where I was going to turn her away. But then I felt a connection to her…like she was feeling something I'd felt long ago." Watanuki stopped drinking and looked at his boss, surprised.

"I've never heard you talk about your past before, Yuuko. Were you in love once? Was your heart ever broken?" He asked, curious as to what Yuuko's life had been before she owned the shop as she never talked about her past.

"You want to know?" Yuuko turned from the window and stared at the boy with her deep, cranberry colored eyes, as if daring him to ask. Watanuki, while intimidated, wanted to know and nodded, his curiosity burning. However, before Yuuko could speak, Mokona jumped up, its eyes wide open, blue jewel flashing.

"I have an urgent message from Syaoran!" The puffball said.

"Oh, I haven't heard from them in a while," Yuuko remarked. Mokona jumped onto the window ledge and its jewel started projecting an image in a circle of light. A brunette boy with brown eyes and two girls appeared in the image, one with short blonde hair and green eyes and the other with long black hair and blue eyes. The blonde girl was Sakura, if Watanuki remembered correctly, he only helped them once since Yuuko died before she came back, but the other girl was unfamiliar to him.

"Yuuko! Watanuki said you were dead!" Syaoran said in surprise.

Yuuko chuckled softly, "Yes, he was correct. However, I don't believe that now is the correct time to tell that tale."

Syaoran nodded in understanding, "Listen, I need help to save the Land of Birds!" His voice grew desperate. "I have to find a way to open a magic bird cage in order to save this place!"

"So, basically you need a key, is that right?" Yuuko answered, reaching into her yukata sleeve, "Well, I think I have just the thing to help you." The witch held up the key to the mansion, its gold surface shining in the sunlight. "This artifact recently came into my possession. It can open anything you wish."

"Thank you, Yuuko," Syaoran's head dipped in a bow.

"I assume that you remember I require compensation, Syaoran?" Yuuko prompted, getting her price.

"I don't think I have anything you give you," He replied. Watanuki knew that they were sunk as Yuuko never gave up anything without getting something in return; except for Doreiku, but he was her adopted son so the rules were different.

"What about this?" The black-haired girl asked, holding up a small, tinkling bell. "Will this work, Yuuko?"

"In order to be equal in worth, this thing must be important to you," Yuuko guessed, "This bell must be more than it seems. I accept. Mokona." The witch called to her companion. Mokona opened its mouth and swallowed the key as Yuuko tossed it in, and then tossed out the bell into Yuuko's hands. Syaoran was now holding the key. "Use it well…and good luck."

Mokona returned to its lazy self. Yuuko slipped the magenta strap of the small, white bell onto her finger, ringing the object as she looked at its blue flower designs. However, before the woman could speak, Watanuki repeated his question. Yuuko put the bell away and turned to him.

She opened her mouth to speak and then was interrupted by loud singing from outside.

"Yuuko and Clow sittin in a tree!" Came two teenaged male voices, "K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Doreiku and Harry's trap had been sprung. Yuuko froze at this as Watanuki tried to contain his laughter at her face. She was turning bright red and her hands clenched.

The song continued, "First comes the love! Then comes the marriage!" Yuuko gritted her teeth and finally lost it as the boys completed the song, "Then comes the baby in the baby carriage!"

"Where did you two hear about that?!" She screamed, her eyes blazing. The boys ignored her and began again.

"Yuuko and Clow sittin in a tree!"

Faster than Watanuki had ever seen his boss move, Yuuko was dressed and out the door, shouting at Watanuki to hurry up and follow. The seer raced after his boss, passing Domeki and Himawari who had just shown up.

Outside, the boys had just heard Yuuko scream at them and grinned. The plan was working perfectly. So, they began again. Then they heard Yuuko shout at Watanuki and they took off after leaving a note behind.

Yuuko stormed out of the inn, she was irate. Watanuki was right behind her, but he was trying to keep from laughing at her reaction. _This is too funny_ , he thought. Normally Yuuko was the one causing people, namely himself to lose control like this.

The witch cast her furious gaze around trying to find the two boys who had given Watanuki the answer he wanted and she wasn't able to trick him into cooking! Her eyes found a note. She picked it up and read it aloud.

"We know what you were going to do. So, let's play a game. A mixture of Hide and Seek and Tag. And Watanuki and Domeki cannot help you. Let us begin."

Yuuko ground her teeth and raced off in the direction that the teens' tracks led. After she vanished from sight, Watanuki, Domeki, and Himawari all burst out in laughter! Yuuko had forgotten that Doreiku and Harry could move very fast when they wanted and often not on the ground.

"I can't believe it!" Watanuki gasped out, "Yuuko beaten at her own game! Mark this day down and declare it a holiday!"

Himawari was rolling on the ground laughing, she couldn't answer.

Domeki managed to asked Mokona, who had shown up, "So, were Harry and Doreiku correct?"

The Mokona sighed, "Yes, they were, and Doreiku knew how Yuuko was going to react at Clow Reed's name. Luckily, this never happens that often."

Watanuki finally calmed down, "Did anyone get a picture of Yuuko's face?!"

Domeki handed over a camera and Watanuki scrolled through the images. Even better than a picture, Domeki had managed to get a video!

Shouting could be heard from the trees. It was Yuuko, trying to chase down Doreiku and Harry. Suddenly, from behind a bush, Harry burst out of the woods with Yuuko in pursuit. The young wizard climbed a tree to get out of reach. Yuuko tried to grab him, but missed by a fraction of an inch. The wizard sat just out of her reach making faces all the while.

"I will get you," Yuuko growled. She started to climb the tree, but Harry, being much nimbler was able to snake his way through the branches as Watanuki laughed and laughed. The seer knew that Harry had, while Yuuko was taking her bath, placed his broomstick in the uppermost branches.

Harry grabbed his broom as Yuuko cursed, her long hair getting caught on a branch. He took off from the tree and hovered over the lake safely out of reach. They heard a laugh coming from the edge of the woods. Doreiku was standing there, grinning.

"Looks like old age and treachery doesn't always out do youth and exuberance every time, eh Yuuko?!" he shouted to the woman.

She carefully picked her way out of the tree, glaring at Harry who cheekily waved at her. The witch's hair was full of twigs and leaves and she did not look happy.

"I will make you pay for that, brat!" She snarled and took off after Doreiku. The warrior darted away, with the witch in hot pursuit. It went on like this for another hour or so, with Doreiku easily evading Yuuko by climbing into trees, launching himself off rocks and at one-point scrambling on top of the inn. In time, Yuuko forgot why she was even chasing the boys, now just having fun. That is until Doreiku jumped from the roof of the inn to Harry's broom and the two started singing again, grinning.

"Yuuko and Clow sittin in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" They darted down past the screaming Yuuko, who made a last-ditch effort to catch them.

"Who told you about Clow Reed!?" She gasped out, as the boys easily dodged and hid. She searched for about five minutes and then walked back to the waiting quartet of Mokona, Watanuki, Domeki and Himawari. She was exhausted! She collapsed onto a beach chair.

Watanuki quietly handed his boss a glass of cold water, which she drank without complaint.

"I guess they win, Yuuko," he grinned. Yuuko sighed.

"That they do. However, I am going to make them pay for that song later, Watanuki. That is an inevitability."

Watanuki snapped his fingers, and suddenly Yuuko was sitting there in her purple bathing suit.

Domeki gave a sharp whistle, akin to that which a falconer would give to his bird.

"Huh?!" Yuuko exclaimed.

Doreiku and Harry burst vertically into the air with large buckets in their hands, causing Mokona, Watanuki, Domeki and Himawari to step back.

Yuuko looked up at this and screamed in terror and tried to flee. But it was too late.

Doreiku and Harry both dumped massive buckets of water onto the Dimensional Witch, soaking her to the bone. Her hair was dripping wet and in front of her eyes. She squeezed some of the water out of it and moved it aside so that she could see.

The two teens tapped her on the shoulder and said, "We win!" and promptly darted out of range, pulling off their shirts.

By now it was an hour after noon and extremely hot out. Yuuko straightened her hair out the best she could and stood. She shook her head.

"Very well. I admit my defeat," the woman said. Harry and Doreiku tackled her in a hug, big smiles on their faces. Yuuko started laughing, her eyes dancing with mirth and she gently tussled with the two. Eventually, she ended up sitting on the ground with her arms wrapped around the two boys, her eyes alive with laughter and a gigantic smile across her face.

Watanuki snapped a picture at this moment and handed the camera to Mokona to put away, remarking, "I think it's time they started a family photo album."

Mokona giggled and said, "That's a good idea."

By now, Himawari had left, returning to her aunt's and Doreiku and Harry were getting ready to go swimming as the lake was actually pretty clear of weeds and dirt. Domeki and Watanuki ran into the water as Watanuki shouted at Yuuko to, "Come on in! The water's fine!"

Seeing her charges having the time of their lives, she couldn't say no to them and she ran in as well. The rest of the afternoon passed this way, with Yuuko taking the time to teach Harry how to swim properly. Eventually though, things had to come to an end and they all dried themselves off to head inside and wash the sweat and lake water off them.

An hour later, all nicely clean and dried, the six sat around a table eating dinner. Watanuki was happy that he didn't have to cook for once. They were all ravenous after the mansion and an afternoon of fun and teasing Yuuko. No one spoke until after dinner where they all sat outside on the porch watching the stars. The Dimensional Witch was sipping on some saké when something fluttered down to them.

It was small, about the size of a housecat and looked like a dragon, with a barbed tail like that of a scorpion. It carried a letter strapped to one of its forelegs. Doreiku gave the creature some meat that he had on hand and relieved it of its letter. The little dragon-creature scarfed up the offered meat and took off into the night as Doreiku read through the letter. It was in Draconic.

"What was that thing?" Watanuki asked, curiously after the creature had vanished into the night.

Yuuko took a sip of saké and replied, "That was a pseudodragon, I believe. I've never actually seen one up close before. They're supposed to be extremely rare now and have magical powers to them."

Doreiku grunted, "Yes. They're also telepathic and highly intelligent. They were a lot more common in the old days and in Faerûn, a continent on the world of Toril, those trained in magic often kept them as familiars. Consider yourselves lucky. Very few even get a glimpse of a pseudodragon now."

He looked up from the letter at Yuuko.

"Aunt Tia wrote, Yuuko," he said. The woman raised a fine eyebrow at him. "She said the trials begin tomorrow. Well, her trial at least. She writes that I've already passed Null's test."

"Huh?" Watanuki asked.

"The spirit in the mansion," the part dragon replied, "Uncle Null is the dragon god of death and undeath and so that spirit fell under his domain. Apparently, I was to make a decision based on the behavior of that spirit and decide whether to spare him or not. When I chose to wait and then spare him due to his mistakes and his acknowledgment of them, I passed Null's test."

Watanuki and Domeki both looked confused so Yuuko explained.

"Watanuki, it is a similar situation to what happened to me. His deeds were weighed and by that he would be judged. With kami and great beings, the power over death doesn't just mean taking lives, it also means knowing when a being deserves to continue living and be spared or in my case, gain immortality," the witch told them.

"Yes," Doreiku put in, "However, that latter part of immortality remains with one being here in our universe, and another being in Realmspace, the universe where my ancestors come from. Never try to seek such a thing out. If you are worthy of it, then immortality will be given after many, many years." Here he yawned, followed not to long by the others.

Yuuko stood.

"Alright, time for bed." She chivied all of them into their respective rooms, and because lately she had been having nightmares of her death, she put Doreiku on the couch in her room as a ward against the dreams. Also as a potential teddy bear incase she did have a bad dream, but Yuuko would never admit to that.

The witch gently kissed her adopted son on the forehead as he closed his eyes.

"Good night," she whispered, "And sweet dreams too." Mokona turned off the light and she laid down and fell fast asleep.

* * *

Alright Guys, here's chapter four! Next chapter, the trials begin! Will Doreiku survive? Will Watanuki scream in terror? Will Yuuko try to strangle her adopted son for scaring her? Find out next time! Please read and review I appreciate your feedback!


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